JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday proposed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up processing by the Bureau of Immigration of international-bound passengers and the vetting or profiling of identities as part of the government’s campaign against human trafficking.
Remulla made the suggestion during the first coordination meeting of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Task Force Against Trafficking (NAIATFAT), which he presided as chairman of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
He said using AI would also help the IACAT in its drive against human trafficking as it would hasten the scrutiny of the identities and review of documents of outbound Filipino travelers, effectively minimizing human trafficking activities.
“We will try to see if we can use artificial intelligence to vet many of those who want to leave, especially those prone to human trafficking,” Remulla told the gathering.
“On the profiling, I think there is a need to use artificial intelligence. It’s a tool we can use,” he also said.
Remulla said the DOJ will further intensify its efforts against trafficking through the IACAT.
Meanwhile, the DOJ chief Remulla reiterated his appeal for understanding from travelers for the rigid screening being conducted by immigration officers, which in some instances resulted in long queues.
“I hope they understand that it is part of our culture to protect our fellow Filipinos from being trafficked and becoming modern day slaves. That is part of the duty of the Bureau of Immigration and there is nothing we can do about that. The prevailing advisory is that we should arrive very early at the airport for processing to avoid the risk of being offloaded,” Remulla said.
“We are the only airport that stops people from leaving. The right to protect our fellow Filipinos is paramount. If this is in America or in Europe, we will be charged and accused of violation of the rights to travel but here in the Philippines, the right to protect our fellow Filipinos is paramount,” he added.
At the same time, Remulla warned that he would not tolerate any BI personnel who will be involved in illegal activities such as human trafficking.
“Unforgivable. We’ll put the whole law against those erring immigration personnel,” he added.
Immigration Commission Norman Tansingco said the use of technology, including AI, is one area where the agency wanted to improve considering that human traffickers are very adept in using it to stay one step ahead of the authorities.
Aside from fighting human traffickers, Tansingco said the use of modern technology would also be of help in their effort to decongest passengers queuing up at immigration counters.
“Technology is also the key in fighting human trafficking. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, particularly Terminal ,3 experiences daily congestion of passengers and an immigration officer has only 45 seconds in international standard time to decide whether to clear or defer the departure of a passenger and given the additional mandate to screen for possible trafficking victim, the job of an immigration officer has become much harder,” Tansingco said.
