Immigration stops human trafficking attempt at Naia

By Recto Mercene, Business Mirror, Dec 24, 2019

AIRPORT immigration agents stopped nine Filipinos they suspected as victims of human trafficking who disguised themselves as tourists while attempting to leave for Seoul, South Korea, via Taipei.

Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the passengers were about to board an AirAsia flight to Taipei over the weekend when they were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

The immigration bureau’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) said the passengers admitted they were actually destined for South Korea after they were illegally recruited to work as orange pickers in a plantation in Jeju Island.

Medina said the passengers initially claimed they were traveling as tourists to watch a Nanta acrobatic exhibition show in the said island.

“When asked, they could not explain and had no idea what the Nanta show is all about and their answers to questions by immigration officers were highly inconsistent,” Medina said. “When pressed on the actual purpose of their trip, they confessed that they were hired to work on a plantation with a promised monthly salary of P65,000.”

The victims, whose identities were not divulged due to a prohibition in the anti-trafficking law, were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation.

Naia Terminal 3 Travel Enforcement Chief Glen Comia observed that the apprehension occurred barely three days after the TCEU intercepted eight Filipino trafficking victims who were illegally recruited to work in Cyprus.

“It appears that only one syndicate was behind the recruitment of these victims,” Comia said. “This is a well-entrenched trafficking syndicate that operates in both Europe and Asia.”

As in the case of the Cyprus-bound victims, the Korea-bound passengers also did not know each other. They said they only met at an office in Ermita where they were briefed by recruiters before the trip.

The victims, who all hail from remote provinces, also told in writing how they lost their life savings due to the huge sums they have to pay their recruiters.

Airport insiders said many would-be migrant workers resort to illegal means to go abroad to find work to avoid paying the fees required by regular recruitment agencies.

Called “recruitment fee,” the amount goes to the payment of various documents, including the Overseas Employment Certificate issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency,

“For a little less than P60,000 a would-be migrant worker could slip through the Naia with the connivance of some airport insiders,” a person familiar with the matter said.

Security measures

MEANWHILE, security measures implemented by the country’s aviation authorities have secured a satisfactory nod from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

“The ICAO was pleased to note the progress that [the Philippine government] has made to comply with the standards security and the security-related standards to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, and toward the implementation of the critical elements of a State aviation security oversight system,” the ICAO said in a letter dated October to Office for Transportation Security (OTS) Administrator Arturo Evangelista.

The ICAO had furnished copies to the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) of its latest security audit findings. It said that the OTS and Miaa satisfactorily complied with ICAO standards; with some comments and suggestions on implementing the corrective action plan crafted by the said agencies.

Airport Manager Ed V. Monreal cited the new procedures for newly hired airport personnel that will include background check on their neighborhood. Monreal also noted the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency would also conduct a background check on those implementing security controls.

“Strict measures are being put into place in terms of personnel manning security checkpoints,” Monreal said, adding that in case of a delinquency report, the concerned personnel will be immediately pulled out from the line and will undergo retraining before being sent back on line.