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BY ANTHONY VARGAS REPORTER
MORE than 850 passengers at the
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Pampanga were
barred from leaving the country on suspicion of being “tourist
workers,” the Bureau of Immigration said on Saturday.
According to a report received by
Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, 864 passengers were
offloaded for lacking required clearances from the Philippine
Overseas Employment Agency (POEA).
Immigration Regional Director
Romeo Dime said the offloaded passengers had failed to secure the
POEA clearances although their purpose for leaving was to work
abroad.
“Most of them presented bogus
documents such as fake letters of invitations or affidavits of
support from relatives and friends in the countries of their
destinations,” Dime reported to the Immigration chief.
His report noted that almost all
of the offloaded passengers were bound for Malaysia and are believed
to be victims of illegal-recruitment syndicates.
Libanan has issued an order to
Immigration personnel detailed at the DMIA to be vigilant and
implement a total ban on the departure of undocumented overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) upon receiving reports that the
international airport was being used as a major exit point by
illegal recruiters and human-trafficking syndicates. The airport
used to be a US Air Force base.
“We shall continue to be
watchful and protect our OFWs from harm,” he said. He noted
reports saying that victims of illegal recruiters have ended up as
sex workers or victims of abuse in their destinations.
Last week, policemen and
Immigration agents intercepted five women who are alleged victims of
illegal recruiters before they could board their flight to Kuala
Lumpur.
These women later admitted upon
questioning that they were going to work as domestic helpers in
Malaysia and that they were not tourists as they initially claimed.
The operation that led to the
interception was carried out after informants tipped authorities
about the scheduled flight of the five women who were allegedly
hired by illegal recruiters.
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