At least 10 intercepted as human trafficking victims daily during holidays: BI
Ten to 15 persons have been intercepted as victims of human trafficking at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport everyday during the holiday season, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Wednesday.
The latest was on December 22, BI officers prevented two passengers from leaving as tourists to Thailand after it was revealed during secondary questioning that they did not know each other and lacked return tickets to General Santos City.
They confessed to being recruited as household service workers at the United Arab Emirates through Facebook.
BI chief Norman Tansingco said an airport employee was seen escorting the victims to the immigration counters. The incident was reported to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and filing of charges against the recruiters.
There are lesser cases of human trafficking during the holiday season because plane tickets are expensive, said BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval at ANC Dateline Philippines.
These cases reached up to 60 a day before the holiday season and it could go up after the holidays, said Sandoval.
The fight against human trafficking is an ''everyday thing'', said Sandoval.
''Victims continue to say yes despite them knowing these are wrong, it is illegal,'' said Sandoval. '' I guess that the promise of a better life, or good work out of the country takes over that logical decision to go to out the country through legal means.''
Sandoval said the BI continues to fight these recruitment scams on Facebook, ''We want these stories out on social media so they know what measures to protect themselves,'' she said. DMS
