BI on heightened alert vs human trafficking incidents during ‘Undas’

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is on heightened alert following reports that human trafficking syndicates are planning to take advantage of the Undas holiday to spirit their victims in and out of the country.

“We have received intelligence reports that human traffickers and illegal recruiters will be sending many of their victims to travel abroad this week,” BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said in a advisory issued on Monday.

“They are mistaken if they think we will lower our guard during the peak season,” he added.

In its advisory, Medina said he has directed all of the bureau’s airport terminal heads and supervisors to immediately implement strict immigration assessment as part of “Oplan Undas” which will last until November 4.

This is in compliance with the instructions of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, he added.

According to Medina, members of the bureau’s newly-reshuffled Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) were instructed to conduct secondary inspection on departing Filipinos with doubtful purpose of travel.

“Most of the time, trafficking victims are instructed by their recruiters to disguise themselves as tourists to attempt to leave the country,” Medina said.

“I have ordered our immigration officers to conduct strict departure formalities to protect our fellow Filipinos from being victimized by unscrupulous individuals who only wish to earn at the expense of others,” he added.

Medina, meanwhile, said he has directed immigration officers manning the airports to be doubly strict in clearing foreigners to make sure that their visas and other travel documents are valid and genuine.

He noted that there are a number of foreigners that have been caught this month presenting bogus passports and visas.

Foreign syndicates, Medina pointed out, might take advantage of the influx of tourists and attempt to sneak in illegal aliens pretending to be legitimate tourists.

“Illegal aliens with fake documents will definitely be caught,” he said.

Our immigration officers are highly-trained to detect fraud, plus we have state-of-the-art equipment to ensure the protection of our borders,” he added. /je