Immigration arrests illegal recruiter at Naia

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has nabbed an illegal recruiter who once managed to successfully facilitate the departure of two of his victims.

Timotea Barizo, BI travel control and enforcement unit chief said on Sunday that the 40-year old suspect already has a record in its database for illegal recruitment.

“Our records show that on May 9 last year he left the country with two female companions on the pretext that they were traveling as tourists and would return three days later,” Barizo said in a statement.

“Instead, he came back alone and left his companions abroad,” he added

The statement of Barizo came after Immigration authorities finally nabbed the said suspect at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last July 26.

According to the bureau, the suspect once again tried to take a victim to Malaysia as they were about to board a Cebu Pacific flight.

The suspect, who was not named as the anti-trafficking law prohibits the public disclosure of human traffickers and their victims, firstly said that his victim was his employee.

“The suspect insisted that the victim is employed as a sales and marketing assistant in his travel consultancy firm, and that the company ID and business card presented by his companion are genuine,” Immigration port operations division chief Grifton Medina said.

However, upon interrogation, the victim confessed that she paid the suspect P25,000 to facilitate her travel. The victim also said that the identification documents she presented were only given by her alleged recruiter.

Following this, BI Chief Jaime Morente reiterate his warning to those who wanted to work abroad regarding illegal recruiters.

“These bogus documents are easily recognizable to our immigration officers,” Morente said.

“We are not just stopping victims, we are on the lookout to stop their recruiters as well. If intercepted, these recruiters will be turned over to the proper authorities for the filing of the appropriate criminal charges,” he warned. /je