Invisibility amulet fails OFW wannabe

A 25-year-old woman desperate to work in Dubai was intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 after an amulet that would supposedly make her invisible to immigration agents failed to work.

The Naia Task Force against Trafficking in Persons (Naia-TFATP) said it was looking into the possibility that the illegal recruiter who victimized the caregiver from Batangas was working with an airport insider.

According to the task force, the victim was instructed by the recruiter to avoid going through immigration, making them believe that the airport insider may be waiting behind the counters, ready to affix Bureau of Immigration Border Stamps (BIBS) on the victim’s passport.

A report from the Naia-TFATP said the Dubai-bound caregiver who posed as a tourist was intercepted at 2 p.m. on May 20 after she was caught trying to skip the immigration counter at the airport. It was her third attempt to leave the country.

Before she was apprehended, she tried to leave on May 17 and 19, both times through Naia Terminal 1.

On her first attempt, she told immigration officers she was a tourist whose trip to Dubai was sponsored by an uncle. But they did not allow her to leave after she failed to show documents proving her claims.

The second time, on May 19, she tried to skip the immigration counters. When caught, she said that her supposed uncle had instructed her not to undergo immigration inspection.

When she was held and questioned on May 20 by the task force, the victim claimed that desperation had pushed her to answer a wanted ad for overseas workers posted on Facebook.

According to her, she was offered work in Dubai as a caregiver with free board and lodging plus a monthly salary of 2,500 Dirhams.

The recruiter asked her to pay P16,000 as processing fee for her travel documents. On April 12, she got a tourist visa for the United Arab Emirates and a flight booked for May 17.

The caregiver claimed that before her scheduled flight, she was given her e-ticket and an affidavit of undertaking. She also received the copy of the passport of a man she did not know who would act as her uncle and sponsor for the Dubai trip.

To ensure that she would be able to leave this time, the woman said that she bought an invisibility amulet for P750 from an Aeta tribesman.

According to the task force’s report: “The passenger during the investigation and counseling of the duty social worker [said] that she was desperate to go abroad as they [she and her family] were deep in debt because of her expenses incurred in trying to work abroad.”

It further stated: “Worried that she would be spotted again while following the instruction to evade the immigration, she bought an amulet for P750 from an Aeta purportedly to render her invisible. However, she was obviously seen as she was caught again.”

The human trafficking victim was endorsed to the National Bureau of Investigation for her complaint against the illegal recruiter while the Naia-TFATP was conducting a probe to identify the airport insider.