A FEMALE trafficking victim was intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last Tuesday by immigration officers after she presented a document bearing the fake signature of Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty.
Ty is also the undersecretary-in-charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the 30-year-old trafficking victim presented herself for primary inspection at the NAIA Terminal 1 in an attempt to depart the country via a Philippine Airlines flight to Singapore.
She initially claimed to be a DOJ employee working as an administrative staff of Ty, adding she was traveling to Singapore as an official delegate of the department.
Ty is currently attending a forum in Bangkok, Thailand on how to address human trafficking and related transnational crimes.
“The victim presented a travel authority purportedly signed by Undersecretary Ty. However, immigration officers noted inconsistencies in the signature which prompted them to verify with the DOJ,” Tansingco said, adding the DOJ confirmed the travel authority was spurious and that Ty’s signature was forged.
Under interrogation, the victim told immigration officers she was actually recruited to work in the United Arab Emirates as an entertainer, adding she paid 38,000 Emirati dirhams for her fake documents that she would pay in two years.
Tansingco said she the victim also admitted that her documents were given to her in a fast food chain near NAIA by her recruiter.
The BI chief said the victim’s recruiter apparently thought that by faking the signature of the DOJ official, she would avoid scrutiny from immigration officers.
The BI is an attached agency of the DOJ.
Tansingco said the victim was turned over to the IACAT while investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest her recruiter.
