JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday ordered the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) to investigate the alleged trafficking of Filipino workers to Myanmar to work as “crypto-scammers.”
“We’re already investigating that. We’re asking the NBI to investigate that,”Remulla told reporters in an ambush interview, adding he has directed NBI Director Medardo de Lemos to leave no stone unturned in the investigation.
He said the bureau will use the information provided by resource persons who attended the hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality to jumpstart its probe.
“Yung findings ng hearing pa rin ang aming (We will use the findings in the hearing), we’re making the (testimonies during the hearing as) starting point of the investigation because the hearings were very revealing as to the modus operandi,” Remulla said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, citing information revealed by 12 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were recently rescued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, has exposed that workers recruited as customer representatives for call center firms in Thailand have ended up as crypto currency scammers for members of the Chinese mafia in Myanmar.
The workers said they were physically hurt, not fed, and their salaries put on hold if they fail to reach the output quota set by the Chinese mafia.
On Tuesday, the senator presented a witness who bared a new modus operandi allegedly involving corrupt Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials who supposedly facilitate the seamless departure of unsuspecting OFWs bound for Myanmar using fake entry passes at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
‘NO LINKS’
Immigration spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval yesterday said the BI has started an investigation into the alleged scheme but has yet to find links among its personnel to the alleged trafficking.
Sandoval said even the Senate investigation did not provide specific details as to the supposed involvement of immigration airport agents.
“Base sa initial investigation wala po tayong nakikitang kakutsabang taga immigration (Based on our initial investigation, we have not seen anything that would link our personnel to the scheme yet),” Sandoval told the “Laging Handa” public briefing.
“Especially ‘yung mga passports po ng mga biktima, nakita po natin na may mga fake na stamps, and they were pointing po to several individuals that are not employees of the bureau. May mga picture po na lumabas at mga pangalan, at hindi po ito mga empleyado ng ahensya (We have seen that the victims’ passports have fake stamps, and they are pointing to several individuals who are not immigration employees. There are names and photos that have come out but they are not our employees),” she also said.
But Sandoval said the investigation is still ongoing and if there are immigration personnel who will be found to be involved in the illegal activities, they will be charged with administrative and criminal offenses.
“Hindi natin inaalis ang ganyang posibilidad. Definitely, kagaya ng mga naunang kaso involving immigration personnel, sasampahan natin ng administrative at criminal charges (But we are not discounting the possibility [of involvement]. Definitely, just like previous cases involving immigration personnel, they will be charged with administrative and criminal cases),” she said.
Sandoval said the BI has already talked with the victims to get first-hand information on the syndicate’s modus.
“Worrisome na kasi sa amin na ginagamit ang iba’t ibang ingress at egress points ng ating paliparan. Nakakabahala po ito (We are worried that they are using the various ingress and egress points in our airports. This is really worrisome),” she said.
Part of the ongoing probe, according to Sandoval, is to look at the “weak points” in NAIA that the syndicate are exploiting.
Sandoval said the employees’ entrance is separated from the immigration area and that employee passes are issued by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), not the BI.
She also said the internal probe on the trafficking scheme may also cover MIAA and other government and private entities operating near and inside the airport.
Last Friday, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco ordered BI Port Operations Division chief Carlos Capulong to coordinate with MIAA to request an investigation on the rising cases of attempted trafficking involving fake entry passes.
Tansingco said airport security and police intercepted three victims of such modus earlier this month wherein the victims used fake airport access passes, pretending to be employees of various airport concessionaires, to be able to enter the boarding gates.
Upon closer inspection by airport security personnel, it was discovered that their passes were fake.
It was also found out that their passports and boarding passes contained counterfeit immigration stamps.
Last November 16, aviation security personnel also intercepted a female victim before she was able to board a flight bound to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“We are investigating several victims of a trafficking syndicate that entices our kababayans to work abroad as call center agents, only to be transported to a third country to work as online scammers,” Tansingco said.
“We are trying to see if these two cases are linked. This is already a big security issue, and we see the need to refer the matter for a thorough investigation, together with local law enforcement agencies and the MIAA,” he added.
In 2014, a similar incident occurred when BI officers intercepted four trafficking victims who attempted to enter NAIA using the employees’ entrance.
‘TIGHTER COORDINATION’
Hontiveros yesterday called for “tighter coordination” between the Philippines and its neighboring countries Malaysia and Thailand amid the widespread trafficking of OFWs.
She said authorities from the three countries need to work closely to prevent the trafficking of Filipinos who were promised legitimate high-paying jobs but were forced to work as scammers, with the syndicates using Malaysia and Thailand as entry points going to Myanmar.
“Moving forward, there has to be clear transborder solutions. The Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia are bound by the Asean convention against trafficking in persons kaya dapat mayroong tighter coordination para sugpuin ang krimeng ito (that’s why there needs to be tighter coordination to stop these illegal activities),” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Hontiveros also said the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand should make proper coordination with authorities from the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK to prevent their respective citizens from being victimized by the scammers.
Once in place, Hontiveros said this could possibly be the long-term solution to address human trafficking.
She said the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality, which she heads, will continue with its investigation, in aid of legislation, so that the people behind the trafficking of Filipinos — whether they are from the Bureau of Immigration or the airports — can be made accountable.
She also said that Philippine authorities should exhaust all means to rescue the remaining Filipinos still working in Myanmar.
Hontiveros said the trafficking of Filipinos in other parts of the world can be prevented only if the government has programs and policies that will discourage our countrymen from seeking high-paying jobs abroad.
“Walang agarang solusyon sa hirap ng buhay ng ating mga kababayan na naguudyok sa kanilang makipag-saparalan sa ibang bansa. Kaya dapat ring mapabilis ang pagsagawa ng mga programa at polisiyang talagang makapagbibigay ng disenteng pamumuhay sa bawat Pilipino (There is no immediate solution to the difficulties experienced by our countrymen that push them to work abroad. That’s why the government should come up with programs and policies that will give Filipinos decent lives),” she added. — With Raymond Africa
