The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has intercepted a Filipina bound to Dubai after her falsified Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) was flagged by the system, 24 July.

According to the agency, the 45-year old Filipina was scheduled to fly to Dubai through a connecting flight. When she presented her documents, the altered document was caught by the bureau's system that is linked with the Department of Migrant Worker's (DMW) database.

During the questioning, the woman said that the falsifeid paper is handed to her by her recruiter and was unaware that it was fake.

She also revealed that she was set to work as a nanny to an Egyptian employer.

After the discovery, the supposed passenger is handed over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) who will help her pursue those behind her illegal deployment.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said that the new addition to the agnecy's system is an effort in heedig President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s directive to strenthen border security and protect overseas Filipino workers (OFW) from illegal recruitment.

“The Bureau’s system is now directly connected to the Department of Migrant Workers’ database, allowing our officers to instantly verify the authenticity of every Overseas Employment Certificate. The old ways of faking OECs will not work anymore because everything is now online. We urge aspiring OFWs to process their documents only through legitimate channels and never rely on fixers or illegal recruiters,” stated Viado.

The BI also urged OFW's to thoroughly verify the authenticity of their recruiters and documents to avoid such incidents.