DOJ asked to probe NAIA unit

by Vito Barcelo, Manila Standard, Mar 20, 2019

The Bureau of Immigration has asked the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation against nine members of the BI-Travel Control and Enforcement Unit assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for allegedly conniving with human trafficking syndicate victimizing Filipino jobseekers wanting to work abroad.

The move was made after the Department of Foreign Affairs complains on the rising number of undocumented Filipino workers in the Middle East who managed to slip out of the NAIA with fictitious travel documents.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente requested Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara to probe the 9 BI-TCEU who allegedly connived with human trafficking syndicate to allow Filipino workers to leave the NAIA even without proper working visas.

The BI, however, declined to name the nine TCEU officers pending the outcome of the investigation.

“They will, however, be afforded due process during the investigation. But we will make sure they cannot influence the investigation,” according to the BI.

The Office of the Commissioner will provide the names of the TCEU officers who might be involved in the racket at the NAIA so that the DOJ can begin its formal investigation.

According to the DFA, there are hundreds of undocumented Filipino workers in the Middle East, but they are having difficulty determining their exact number because usually enter the Middle East countries using tourist visas.

Trafficking syndicates have allegedly been luring victims by offering to shoulder their travel to the Middle East, most of them to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia where high-paying jobs are supposedly waiting for them.

Victims then enter the Middle East countries using tourist visas and are made to work without pay supposedly as part of their “training,” the DFA said.

Based on the figures of the DFA, about 700 Filipino in the Middle East countries were repatriated for illegal working there.

Philippine authorities continue to process the repatriation of other distressed OFWs in the Middle East countries.