For 3rd year in a row, PH retains Tier 1 status in fight vs. human trafficking — BI

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday announced that the Philippines, for the third consecutive year, has retained its Tier 1 rating in the US State Department’s 2018 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

Tier 1 rating implies that a country fully complies with the minimum standards set by the United States Trafficking Victim Protection Act.

“We will continue to do our part to ensure that we eradicate trafficking through the strict enforcement of our immigration laws,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement.

The report mentioned that the BI Travel Control and Enforcement Unit has “deferred the departure of 29,357 passengers due to incomplete or missing travel documents or misrepresentation, referred 104 potential cases of suspected trafficking to [the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking] task forces, identified 55 possible victims of illegal recruitment, and stopped 168 foreign registered sex offenders from entering the country.”

From January to May of this year, 14,076 passengers were barred from leaving the country due to “misrepresentation” or presentation of incomplete travel documents, according to BI OIC Associate Commissioner and Port Operations Division Chief Marc Red Mariñas.

“We were also successful in foiling several attempts by international syndicates to use the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as a transit point for smuggling illegal aliens to other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom,” Mariñas said. “Those involved were apprehended, detained and later deported and blacklisted.”

Despite the Tier 1 rating, Morente stressed that the Bureau will continue to work against human trafficking and illegal recruitment.

“Modern-day slavery has no place in this world, and the Bureau of Immigration will work day and night to ensure that our kababayans are protected from this threat,” he said. — Daphnie Beltran/INQUIRER.net Intern/vvp