SIX hundred eighty-eight victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment were rescued last year, the Bureau of Immigration said yesterday.
Citing data from its Travel Control and Enforcement Unit, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said 491 were seen as possible human trafficking victims and were turned over to the Inter-Agency Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation.
A total of 197 individuals were turned over to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for presenting counterfeit or questionable overseas work permits and job contracts.
Of the 688, Morente said 326 were underage and minors, with 18 of them assuming the identities of other persons in their bid to leave the country.
“There is still a large number of minors and underage victims posing as legitimate workers that were intercepted this year despite the pandemic and despite the numerous continuous warnings we have issued,” Morente said.
“Some common schemes that these human traffickers and illegal recruiters would employ is the issuance of fake documents or tampered visas to their victims, falsified marriages, use of tourist visas to work abroad and duping underage Filipinos to work as household workers,” he added.
For example, in the Middle East the age of those seeking to work as household service workers is 23.
He said immigration officers deferred the departure of 13, 680 passengers last year, majority of them due to improper documentation.
Last year, a Senate inquiry led by Sen. Riza Hontiveros uncovered a scheme involving corrupt immigration personnel collecting at least P50,000 from human traffickers for each Filipina woman allowed to leave the country to work as servants or prostitutes.
Hontiveros said it is another iteration of the money-making schemes by corrupt immigration officers, including the “pastillas scam” targeting Chinese nationals who were allowed to enter the country for a certain amount.
