BI intercepts trafficking victims posing as missionaries at Naia

Bureau of Immigration. File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — Three human trafficking victims posing as religious missionaries were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the Bureau of Immigration said on Monday.

According to the BI, the three—all women, aged 23, 25, and 50—were all intercepted on April 1 while attempting to board a Scoot Airlines flight to Singapore, connecting to Thailand.

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BI said all three claimed to be full-time church volunteers designated for a missionary mission in Thailand.

Discrepancies on their documents, however, led to further questioning, which then led to two of them confessing that they were not part of a missionary group but licensed teachers recruited for illegal employment at a school in Thailand.

“This case echoes the ‘Bitbit’ scheme, where a frequent traveler, acting as a courier, attempts to transport [a] group of passengers under false [sic] pretenses, while victims are unknowingly coerced into illegal work,” BI chief Joel Anthony Viado said in a statement.

The BI said the two women admitted that they were recruited by the woman they were traveling with, who initially claimed to be the founder and head preacher of a congregation.

They later admitted that they had not yet been hired and were asked to prepare employment documents like their transcripts of records in case the school decided to employ them.

A check of their recruiter’s record showed she had also previously left with another group of passengers, whom she claimed were also her church companions, but had not returned to the Philippines.

The victims were referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance.

After verifying with the Department of Migrant Workers, the National Bureau of Investigation arrested the recruiter on April 3.