CLARK FREEPORT – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) here said charges of illegal recruitment and human trafficking are being beefed up against two Malaysians working for a Singaporean firm, following their aborted attempt to illegally recruit more Filipino women through the airport here.
Heranio Manalo, chief of the BI at the DMIA, said that last Sunday, five more women who were offloaded from their flight to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, were questioned by the BI’s task force on illegal recruitment and human trafficking “so that proper charges can be filed against the illegal recruiters who tapped them to work in Malaysia”.
He said the task force, headed by Col. Gilbert Soza, will file the charges against the foreign suspects as soon as enough evidences, including the testimonies of the latest victims, have been prepared.
The BI here said that since last year, a total of 3,191 Filipinos with tourist visas have been prevented from boarding their flights for foreign destinations via the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark on suspicion they really planned to work abroad while skirting the requirements of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Manalo said that immigration policies here are “in strict compliance” with the directive of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan “never to relax and compromise the security of the country”.
He said that in accordance with Libanan’s directive, the BI here “maintains a database to make the screening of passengers more effective” and that its “profiling includes banned aliens and foreign fugitives”.
He added that the BI “continuously updates the skills of employees in detecting fraudulent papers”.
Manalo said that since last year, his office has also barred 248 “suspicious” foreigners from entering the country via the airport here. “Last January alone, 435 Filipino passengers were barred from leaving, on top of 2,751 last year.”
“They all were leaving as tourists, but interviews would reveal that some of them had no gainful employment or source of income to justify their leaving as tourists bound for such placed as Macau , Singapore and Malaysia where we have had cases of human trafficking,” Manalo said.
“We just found it incredible that they would go abroad as tourists and our suspicion is bolstered by their admission that they would like to stay in their foreign destinations over unusually long periods,” he said.
Manalo said that in the latest case last Sunday, the recruiters were identified as Malaysian nationals Alasubramaniam Panirsalvam and Suresh Armogam who are reportedly working for Delifrance Singapore PTE Ltd.
He noted that the invitation of the five women to work abroad was dated January last year.
“With only P5,000 each in their possession and their plans to stay as tourists in Malaysia up to March 8, they proved to be suspicious,” Manalo said.
Further questioning revealed the identities of their recruiters who sent them the invitation to work not in Malaysia, but in Singapore, he noted.
Four of the five women who were offloaded last Sunday were from Metro Manila, while the fifth was from Nueva Vizcaya.
Manalo cited records showing that offloaded passengers here either had planned to work illegally abroad or use the initial destination as take off point for another foreign country such as Dubai .
“Some argue that they are to get their working papers once they reach their foreign destinations, but this is not the legal process. They have to pass through the POEA for their own protection,” he added.
In the case of the foreigners, Manalo noted various bases for their being barred from entering the country via the DMIA.
“There were cases of some foreigners from the People’s Republic of China whose disembarkation card did not relay information on the address of their destinations in the country. They had no destination at all and could later end up as public charge,” he said.
Manalo said BI personnel at the DMIA have been trained to detect suspicious documents of foreigners some of whom could be involved in illegal international syndicates.
Heranio Manalo, chief of the BI at the DMIA, said that last Sunday, five more women who were offloaded from their flight to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, were questioned by the BI’s task force on illegal recruitment and human trafficking “so that proper charges can be filed against the illegal recruiters who tapped them to work in Malaysia”.
He said the task force, headed by Col. Gilbert Soza, will file the charges against the foreign suspects as soon as enough evidences, including the testimonies of the latest victims, have been prepared.
The BI here said that since last year, a total of 3,191 Filipinos with tourist visas have been prevented from boarding their flights for foreign destinations via the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark on suspicion they really planned to work abroad while skirting the requirements of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Manalo said that immigration policies here are “in strict compliance” with the directive of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan “never to relax and compromise the security of the country”.
He said that in accordance with Libanan’s directive, the BI here “maintains a database to make the screening of passengers more effective” and that its “profiling includes banned aliens and foreign fugitives”.
He added that the BI “continuously updates the skills of employees in detecting fraudulent papers”.
Manalo said that since last year, his office has also barred 248 “suspicious” foreigners from entering the country via the airport here. “Last January alone, 435 Filipino passengers were barred from leaving, on top of 2,751 last year.”
“They all were leaving as tourists, but interviews would reveal that some of them had no gainful employment or source of income to justify their leaving as tourists bound for such placed as Macau , Singapore and Malaysia where we have had cases of human trafficking,” Manalo said.
“We just found it incredible that they would go abroad as tourists and our suspicion is bolstered by their admission that they would like to stay in their foreign destinations over unusually long periods,” he said.
Manalo said that in the latest case last Sunday, the recruiters were identified as Malaysian nationals Alasubramaniam Panirsalvam and Suresh Armogam who are reportedly working for Delifrance Singapore PTE Ltd.
He noted that the invitation of the five women to work abroad was dated January last year.
“With only P5,000 each in their possession and their plans to stay as tourists in Malaysia up to March 8, they proved to be suspicious,” Manalo said.
Further questioning revealed the identities of their recruiters who sent them the invitation to work not in Malaysia, but in Singapore, he noted.
Four of the five women who were offloaded last Sunday were from Metro Manila, while the fifth was from Nueva Vizcaya.
Manalo cited records showing that offloaded passengers here either had planned to work illegally abroad or use the initial destination as take off point for another foreign country such as Dubai .
“Some argue that they are to get their working papers once they reach their foreign destinations, but this is not the legal process. They have to pass through the POEA for their own protection,” he added.
In the case of the foreigners, Manalo noted various bases for their being barred from entering the country via the DMIA.
“There were cases of some foreigners from the People’s Republic of China whose disembarkation card did not relay information on the address of their destinations in the country. They had no destination at all and could later end up as public charge,” he said.
Manalo said BI personnel at the DMIA have been trained to detect suspicious documents of foreigners some of whom could be involved in illegal international syndicates.
