The personnel at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) intercepted two Filipinas who were traveling to Malaysia for a vacation. However, it was later found out that they were planning to go to Congo, Africa to work as a domestic helper.
According to reports, the two women were aged around their mid-20s and early 30s. They were intercepted at NAIA Terminal 1.
The Immigration Officers were skeptical because their statements didn’t coincide with the documents they presented upon traveling.
“They were unable to answer even the most basic details po ng kanilang bakasyon dahil itong lamang mga dokumento nila ay kabibigay lamang sa kanila right before sila pumasok ng paliparan,” says BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval.
The documents of the 2 women were also identical, which arose suspicion especially since they just met outside the airport.
“Sila palang dalawa ay bound for Congo para doon po magtrabaho. Ni-recruit sila allegedly ng isang Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) sa Congo para magtrabaho doon,” Sandoval added.
“They were offered P40,000 salary, the initial offer sa kanila ay mga staff, mga school o office worker pero when we inquired kung meron silang background sa mga ito, wala raw silang background sa kanilang trabaho.”
Later on, they were just asked to work as a domestic helper in Africa.
The Bureau of Immigration already submitted all the necessary documents to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking which will find the people behind these attempted human trafficking.
“We want to put the information out there for everyone to know and understand why the immigration is doing stricter interviews for certain departing Filipinos because of the high instances of human trafficking schemes such as this,” Sandoval said.
