More than 32,400 Filipino passengers had been stopped from travelling abroad and investigated for alleged involvement in human trafficking and illegal recruitment, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Friday, Sept. 1.
“Doon po sa records na ‘yun I think 32,400 plus po ‘yung nirefer to the IACAT and the POEA for investigation on human trafficking and illegal recruitment dahil may nakita pong element ng human trafficking (The records show I think 32,400 plus Filipinos were referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for investigation on human trafficking and illegal recruitment because there were elements of human trafficking found),” BI Spokesperson Dana Mengote-Sandoval said on DZBB.
“Ibig sabihin po nun kapag may element of human trafficking meron pong nakitang recruiter, meron pong nakitang someone who processed the documents for them, meron po nakita ang ahensya, ang IACAT po na kakasuhan at hahabulin at ikukulong kaya po sila ‘yung bilang na ‘yun ‘yun po ang ang iniimbestigahan ang kanilang mga recruiter (When there are elements of human trafficking that means a recruiter was found, there was discovery that someone processed documents for the travelers, and the IACAT found there is basis for prosecuting, running after, and jailing persons including recruiters who are subject of investigation),” she explained.
Sandoval pointed these out in response to the calls of Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero to have the BI pay the travel expenses of 32,404 passengers who got offloaded from their flights and subjected to prolonged interrogation conducted by immigration officers at the airports.
“We are actually thankful that this is being brought up and this is being discussed kasi talagang kailangan din po malaman ito ng public ‘yung (because the public has to know) trafficking is really here and it’s really a problem and these are the efforts of the government to fight it,” she said.
Aside from suspicion on human trafficking suspicion, Sandoval said there are other Filipino travelers who got deferred from traveling abroad because “may mga mismatch sa documents doon po sa purpose of travel (there are mismatched documents for the purpose of travel.”
In these instances, Sandoval said the Filipino passengers can return and bring with them the necessary documents for their travel.
If there is enough time, the BI official said the Filipino passenger may be allowed to proceed with the travel if he or she managed to present the documents being sought.