MANILA, Philippines — Four illegally recruited workers trying to sneak out of the country as tourists were intercepted by immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Bureau of Immigration (BI) port operations division chief Grifton Medina said in a statement on Sunday that the four men were stopped by authorities at the departure area of the Naia Terminal 1 last Friday after attempting to board their flight to Abu Dhabi.
Timotea Barizo, chief of the Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU), said the four pretended to be tourists bound for the UAE and planned to proceed to Amman in Jordan before going to their final destination in Libya where they were hired to work as airconditioner technicians and pipe fitters.
The BI said investigation conducted by the TCEU found that the return tickets presented by the four passengers were not valid which reinforced suspicion that they are not tourists and whose real purpose for leaving the country was to work abroad.
“They said they were recruited to work in Libya despite the deployment ban at the initiative of their friends and relatives who are already working there,” Barizo said.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the incident should prompt immigration officers at the airport to become stricter in enforcing the deployment ban of overseas workers to Libya where a civil war has been raging among groups that want to wrest control of the government.
“We cannot allow our countrymen to be put in harm’s way by working in such dangerous places,” Morente said.
He added that that there are many other countries which are peaceful and where Filipinos can find jobs.
The BI, likewise, warned Filipinos seeking employment abroad not to skirt overseas deployment policies following the recent interception at Naia.