BI intercepts 17 suspected trafficking victims at Cebu airport

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday said it has rescued 17 Filipinas who were allegedly illegally recruited to be household service workers in the Middle East.

Suspected of being victims of human trafficking, the women were intercepted at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) on October 16 and 17 before they could board their flights to Hong Kong and Macau en route to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the bureau said in a statement.

Thirteen of the women were hired to work in Dubai, the rest in Qatar, the bureau said. They were offloaded from five different flights.

BI Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina said it appears the women were recruited by a syndicate that separately booked them on several flights to mislead immigration personnel about the purpose of their trip.

"They are, however, wrong in assuming that we are less vigilant in guarding our ports outside Manila,” he said in the statement.

An immigration official at the Mactan-Cebu airport said the women admitted having UAE and Qatari visas and that they were recruited by individuals they met via Facebook or through people they know who are working in Dubai and Doha.

The passengers were unfamiliar with their travel itinerary, only relying on instructions to be given to them by their handlers, said Ma. Asuncion Palma-Gil, the BI's travel control and enforcement unit head at the airport.

“This is a clear case of human trafficking wherein victims who are jobless and have no visible means of support are sent abroad and put in harm’s way to satisfy the cravings for profit of unscrupulous recruiters,” she said.

The women have been turned over to the MCIA Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation, the BI said. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/KBK, GMA News