The Bureau of Immigration (BI) barred three underage overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from leaving the country.
The three Filipina women, who were about to a flight bound for Saudi Arabia, were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday after authorities found out that they presented passports with fake birthdays.
The BI did not disclose the identity of the women as the anti-trafficking law prohibits authorities from disclosing the identities of trafficking victims, reported Inquirer.net.
“They all presented passports with false birthdates to make it appear that they meet the age requirement for household service workers which is 23 years and above,” BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said.
Glenn Ford Comia, BI Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) head supervisor at the NAIA Terminal 1, added that the three women presented valid overseas employment certificates, job contracts, and working visas, but their passports did not contain true and correct information on their dates of birth.
According to the dates of birth on their passports, two of the women claimed that they were 24 and 25 years old, but they were actually only 22 years old.
The other one claimed that she was 24 years old but in fact was only 20.
The three women were then turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation.
The BI also ordered its officers to be alert after reports stated that syndicates are active again on hiring minors to work abroad.
