Bureau of Immigration uncovers new human trafficking scheme

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has uncovered a new scheme employed by human trafficking syndicates in the country to enable their prospective victims to work abroad.

Under the new modus operandi, trafficking syndicates provide their victims, particularly Filipino women, with fiancée visas and fake marriage certificates to be able to work abroad.

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. on Friday disclosed that immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 foiled last month an attempt by two Filipino women to leave for South Korea by pretending to be married to Koreans.

Investigation results showed that the two women were hired to work as factory workers in South Korea but their recruiters provided them with valid fiancée visas and fake marriage certificates to facilitate their exit and avoid suspicion from the authorities.

The BI chief withheld the names of the women in compliance with the antihuman trafficking law, which prohibits public disclosure of human traffickers and their victims.

A check of the women’s passports by the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) showed that they were stamped with valid fiancée visas by the South Korean embassy and bore official stickers from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, said David.

“It was evident that their visas were legally obtained and they could not have done it without the help of their recruiters who invented the scheme meant to deceive our immigration officers at the airport,” David said.

Upon interrogation, both women claimed that their Korean husbands left the country a day after their marriage. They also alleged that they met their husbands only once and that they communicated with them only through the Internet.

But they eventually gave themselves away after giving authorities conflicting answers to other queries.

One of them alleged that her marriage to a Korean was solemnized at a residential house in Parañaque City but the marriage certificate showed that it was held at a protestant church in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the other claimed that the wedding ceremony was officiated by a judge at a restaurant in Manila but the certificate showed that it was solemnized by a pastor.