MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) bared another modus operandi of human trafficking syndicates where their victims are made to pose as nannies of minors traveling abroad to evade the scrutiny of immigration officers.
In a statement on Tuesday, BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said immigration officers uncovered the scheme after two women were intercepted in separate occasions at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in the guise of accompanying minors traveling abroad to visit their parents.
Medina said immigration officers intercepted a 42-year-old woman who attempted to leave for Macau last December 10.
She had presented herself as the guardian of a 14-year-old girl.
Meanwhile, a 31-year-old woman was stopped from leaving for the United Arab Emirates with a 16-year-old boy last December 17.
“In both instances, the women pretended to be yayas or guardians of their minor companions. Indeed, these syndicates will stop at nothing in using every trick they can think of to skirt our ban on the departure of undocumented workers,” Medina said.
Ma. Timotea Barizo, chief of the BI’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU), both passengers initially insisted that they were the nannies or guardians of their minor companions.
“They claimed that they were only asked by the children’s parents to accompany their daughter and son in leaving and joining them abroad,” Barizo said.
“Eventually, however, they confessed that they do not know their companions and they were merely asked to accompany them by the parents to be able to travel abroad,” she added.
According to investigation, it was not the first time that the two minors traveled abroad with their supposed guardians.
Both of them also admitted that they previously departed with different guardians but returned without any companion.
BI records showed that the girl had left the country twice for Macau with two different women while the boy once traveled to Dubai with another female guardian, but all their companions did not return anymore.
“We believe that those alleged yayas ended up working abroad without proper documentation,” Barizo said.