A young woman who assumed the identity of another person in hopes of landing a job as a domestic helper in the Middle East was intercepted by Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
The human trafficking victim was stopped from boarding her flight to Doha, Qatar due to the inconsistent statements she gave to travel control enforcement officers.
The woman claimed she was 27 years old and that her travel paper as household service worker was approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency Administration (POEA).
However, she only revealed her real name during a subsequent interview.
The name of the victim, who hailed from Cotabato, was withheld by authorities in compliance with the anti-trafficking law.
She was referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and assistance in the filing of criminal charges against her recruiters, who tried to facilitate her deployment through underhanded means.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said "human traffickers go as far as providing their victims with false identities and it must be stopped."