Mga nahuling biktima ng illegal recruitment at trafficking, bumaba sa 2020 dahil sa pandemya
Halos 12,000 Filipino ang naharang Bureau of Immigration (BI) kasunod ng kampanya ng ahensya laban sa illegal recruitment at human trafficking.
Ayon kay BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, nasa 11,706 pasahero sa iba’t ibang pantalan ang naharang ng immigration officers, kung saan 9,411 ang napigilan sa Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Sinabi ng ahensya na ang naturang bilang ay mas mababa ng 70 porsyento kumpara sa naitalang 38,522 travelers noong taong 2019.
“Travel restrictions and international flight suspensions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic naturally caused a tremendous drop in the number of Filipinos who traveled abroad in 2020,” paliwanag ni Morente.
Binati ng BI chief ang nakatalagang immigration officers sa mga pantalan na mapagmasid upang mailigtas ang mga hinihinalang biktima ng human trafficking.
Ayon naman kay BI intelligence chief Fortunato Manahan Jr., nasa 295 pasahero ang nai-turnover sa Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) na posibleng trafficking victims.
Karamihan aniya ng mga naharang na pasahero ay nabigong magprisinta ng mga kinakailangang dokumento, mga pekeng dokumento, at misrepresentation.
Samantala, nagpaalala naman si Morente sa mga nais maging overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) na mag-ingat sa illegal recruiters at human traffickers.
“We are worried that once international travel returns to normal, there will be again a rise the number of victims,” aniya at dagdag pa nito, “These illegal recruiters will sweet talk their victims and take advantage of the hardships that some of our kababayan face to make them agree to below-standard arrangements.
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