Probe eyed into sale of travel papers in UAE black market

Philippine officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may look into allegations that Philippine travel documents are being sold in the black market. Ambassador Grace Princesa invited Migrante International, the group that made the claim, to bring the issue to her formally, UAE news site Khaleej Times reported on Sunday. Migrante had claimed the Affidavit of Support (AoS) is being traded in the black market. An AoS is required for Filipino expatriates who want to bring their families to the UAE. It proves citizens can afford to visit overseas countries. Migrante International coordinator Nhel Moroña as saying travel agencies have been paying between Dh250 and Dh300 to so-called runners to get an "instant" AoS. This is way above the normal cost of filing an application: Dh100. The official cost of Dh500 applies only to an urgent application. Moroña said the runners claim to have connections with the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi. The Khaleej Times report quoted Moroña as saying they may ask the Senate and Vice President Jejomar Binay to probe the issue. “We need to know who is behind the black marketing of the AoS, and for the government to remove them from office, and scrap the AoS as it is a burden to Filipino expatriates,” Moroña said. Khaleej Times noted that the AoS was introduced in 2010 to help prevent human trafficking. 'Fake' documents The report cited an employee of a Dubai-based travel agency who claimed that her company pays a runner to help complete 20 to 50 AoS forms a week. She claimed these runners "normally stand outside the Philippine Consulate in Dubai and offer their services to Filipinos. Then they will file it in Abu Dhabi and get it in five minutes." "If I request on Thursday night, I get my orders back by Sunday night,” she said. On the other hand, a worker at a travel agency claimed some of her clients complained that their AoS was rejected at the Immigration because it was fake.  - VVP, GMA News