Two Filipino women intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) disclosed that they each paid their recruiters a hefty sum of Php 75,000 in exchange for processing their documents to secure jobs in Paris.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported that these individuals were apprehended by their officers at NAIA Terminal 3 just moments before they could board an Air Asia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur. The two passengers, initially posing as co-workers in an Information Technology (IT) networking company, presented purportedly legitimate documents to support their claim.
However, during questioning, the women eventually came clean about the falsified nature of their employment documents. They confessed that these papers had been supplied by recruiters they had only encountered on Facebook. Each of them had paid a significant sum of Php 75,000 to their recruiters in the hope of securing the necessary paperwork for employment opportunities in Paris.
Following their interception, the individuals were handed over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for a thorough investigation, as well as to pursue legal action against their unscrupulous recruiters.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco responded to the incident by cautioning prospective overseas workers against seeking “shortcuts” and engaging with illegal recruiters. He urged individuals to follow the proper legal procedures for obtaining overseas work permits from the government. Tansingco emphasized the precarious position of those ensnared by illegal recruiters, as many of them, lured by the promise of lucrative employment abroad, often find themselves returning to the Philippines empty-handed after being abandoned by their handlers.
Tansingco concluded with a stern warning: “Don’t gamble your lifelong savings by falling prey to these unscrupulous people whose only motives are to earn money at your expense.”
