Two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were intercepted by officers of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) bound for Saudi Arabia as domestic helpers for falsifying their documents.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, Travel Control and Enforcement Unit officers at Clark International Airport (CIA) apprehended the two OFWs suspected of falsifying their age to qualify to work as Household Service Workers (HSWs) in the Middle East country.
The duo, whose names were not disclosed, passed on documents claiming they are 26 and 27 years old.
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The two, who hail from Cotabato in Mindanao, we supposed to fly to Saudi via Qatar Airways flight no. 931.
Interrogations showed that the duo provided inconsistent statements about their identity.
“It was later confirmed that they have misrepresented their age, and they admitted that their documents were merely processed for them by their recruiter,” Morente said.
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The interception comes weeks after authorities thwarted the attempt of three minors to leave the country by wearing dark lipstick to conceal their ages.
“These human traffickers are victimizing the youth by enticing them to agree to such schemes,” Morente stressed. “Our kababayan end up in vulnerable situations abroad because of this scheme. These recruiters are not stopping despite the pandemic, and this modus should be curbed immediately.”
The cases have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation, to facilitate chargers to be filed against their recruiters. (RA)
