The Philippine Bureau of Immigration has rescued 688 victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment in 2021.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said his bureau’s officers had deferred the departure of 13,680 passengers in 2021, mostly because of improper documentation and of the figure, 491 were seen as possible human trafficking victims and were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and investigation.
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As many as 197 people were turned over to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, most of them presenting fake or questionable overseas work permits and job contracts and Morente said there was also “a large number of minors and underage victims” who posed as legitimate workers but were intercepted at ports of exit.
Morente said that some schemes that these human traffickers and illegal recruiters would employ are the issuance of fake documents or tampered visas to their victims, falsified marriages, attempt to use tourist visas to work abroad, and duping underage Filipinos to work as household workers.
