MANY bad things happen at the airport, especially that part of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) used by passengers departing for international destinations. The good thing is that some of these violations and infractions of rules are caught and prevented from being consummated.
Last week, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it has thwarted an attempt by a syndicate to traffic three Filipino women recruited as sex workers in Taiwan. The three and their traveling companions – two women — were intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 3 before they could board a Cebu Pacific Air flight to Taipei.
The five passengers were subjected to further screening after giving inconsistent answers to immigration officers and after failing to explain the purpose and itinerary of their travel.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the women were lured to make a living as sex workers, and described their recruitment as a clear case of human trafficking. After initially claiming that they were freelance models traveling to Taipei for a basic training course on the Chinese language, the women broke down during their second interview with immigration officers and admitted to being recruited via Facebook to work as sex workers in Taiwan serving foreign clients. The victims even said their female companions were the ones who helped them process their documents and arrange for the trip.
‘…the constricted jobs market in the country ensures that this malady called human trafficking will continue.’
This latest case of attempted human trafficking at the airport which was stopped by alert immigration officers is an indication that the procedures being implemented by the BI’s immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-Probes) are working well. Aside from the installation of CCTV cameras in all airport immigration areas and counters starting in 2008, the bureau has seen it proper to conduct periodic inspection and monitoring of these devices to ensure that they are in tip-top shape.
At a port of entry or exit, when an international traveler’s information cannot be readily verified (for example, due to lack of documentation), the passenger is usually directed to an immigration interview area known as “secondary inspection.”
Secondary inspection allows the BI to conduct additional research on an international traveler in order to verify information without causing delays for other arriving or departing passengers. It is in the secondary inspection–the second interview by immigration officers–that suspicions of human trafficking are verified, confirmed or dismissed. In the case of the ladies trying to board a flight to Taipei, their real intentions were confirmed at this second interview.
The BI’s preventive work at the airport is just one of the aspects of the government’s drive against illegal recruitment, human trafficking and cyber scams. Much of the work will have to be done by other agencies under the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).
Every so often, immigration counters in major airports in the country such as NAIA, Clark and Cebu are encountering similar cases of attempted human trafficking, and the constricted jobs market in the country ensures that this malady called human trafficking will continue.
As all five women were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and filing of charges, the council with the Department of Justice as lead agency must devise serious plans on how to stem the tide of human trafficking and implement them.
