Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Joel Anthony M. Viado on Monday, March 31, urged Congress to pass a law that would penalize persons who illegally depart the country particularly through the back door.

“Criminalizing illegal exits would serve as a strong deterrent to traffickers and would make victims think twice in accepting such offers,” Viado stressed.

He pointed out that "the country has no specific law penalizing illegal departures which can fall under related violations such as falsification of public documents or tampering under the Philippine Passport Act."

Viado's call was aired following last week’s repatriation of 206 Filipinos from Myanmar where they were forced to work in scam hubs.

Of those repatriated, he said that 54 of them reportedly left the Philippines through the country's back door.

“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Viado said.  

“We have long been raising this concern, and it’s about time that this be acknowledged and addressed, to prevent more kababayans from being victimized by this syndicate,” he stressed. 

He then lauded last week's arrest of two persons suspected to be involved in the human trafficking of the 206 victims.

He noted that those arrested were a certain “Jon Jon” who was among the 206 repatriated but has been identified by the several of the victims as their recruiter and a certain “Fiona” who was arrested by police in Zamboanga and was pointed as the facilitator in the illegal departure by arranging small boats in getting a number of the victims out of the country through the backdoor.