Seven suspected victims and a human trafficker were recently stopped from leaving the country at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 by officers from the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Commissioner Norman Tansingco disclosed that on 1 March, the trafficker and her victims made an attempt to board a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Bangkok.

At the very start, the victims pretended to be a group of friends taking a vacation overseas. Nevertheless, the immigration officer referred them for further examination after closely examining their documentation and finding discrepancies.

However, during the secondary inspection, the victims admitted to being bound for Laos, where they were promised to work as customer service representatives. They admitted they are set to fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand, before traveling to Laos by boat, and have been offered a monthly salary of around PHP 40,000.

The victims said that they received the job offer via Facebook and the online messaging service Telegram. 

They also admitted that, just prior to their flight, their escort had given them their fake identification cards and other documentation outside the airport.

“The escort traveled with them but claimed to be traveling alone to Thailand when she went through immigration,” said Tansingco. “We were able to intercept her, and she was positively identified as an accomplice of the recruiter,” he added.

The trafficker was immediately turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to face charges.

Meanwhile, the Bureau also shared the interception of another female trafficking victim bound for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The said victim was intercepted on 3 March at NAIA Terminal 3 after she attempted to depart the country via Cebu Pacific Airlines flight bound for Dubai.

The female passenger claimed to be traveling to the UAE alone for tourism purposes, but later she admitted to accepting a job offer received via Facebook.

She was allegedly recruited as a household service worker via Facebook and was offered a PHP 20,000 monthly salary. The victim stated that her recruiter contacted her via WhatsApp, where she was advised to pose as a tourist and to secure fake documents for presentation to immigration.