MANILA -- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday urged officials of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to investigate the possible involvement of airline personnel in "facilitating" the departure of victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco issued the appeal following a testimony of a woman who supposedly said she was assisted by an airline employee in queuing at the Immigration departure counter.
The woman, recruited to be a domestic helper in UAE, was stopped from leaving after a BI officer flagged her departure stamp, which turned out to be fake, the BI said in a statement.
Tansingco declined to name the airline associated with the passenger’s escorts, saying the case was already referred to and being investigated by NAIA’s anti-trafficking task force and its airport police department.
“They should stop preying on our poor countrymen who want to work abroad due to poverty and their desire to uplift the lives of their families. We thus urge airport authorities to dig deeper into these shenanigans and file the cases against those involved,” the BI chief said.
The BI chief said the incident should warn airline personnel that they should not connive with human traffickers and illegal recruiters.
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