(Eagle News) — The Bureau of Immigration has warned against trafficking schemes used even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the bureau said there are seven common schemes used by trafficking syndicates and illegal recruiters to enable their victims to work abroad.
“Traffickers now use modern methods—technology, falsification, and deceit. They sweet talk their victims and entice them to agree to such schemes, hence the need to send out a warning for people not to fall prey to these illegals,” Bureau chief Jaime Morente said.
Falsification of documents
For instance, the bureau said some traffickers resort to the falsification of overseas employment certificate (OEC), or tampering with Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) documents.
Legitimate Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are required to present an OEC, records of which are linked in BI’s shared database with the POEA.
“Here we see instances where fake labor employees would make annotations on the certifications supposedly given by the POEA,” Morente said.
In some instances, the bureau said the actual job position of supposed Overseas Filipino Workers is different from the one declared in their OECs.
Morente said often, they are given permits to work for a higher position, but end up working in households and paid salaries lower than industry standards.
Another scheme sees former OFWs using their old OEC, but are given a separate tourist visa to work for a different employer.
Sometimes, these former OFWs are sent to a different country.
Another scheme involves specific countries, with former OFWs in Iraq posing as tourists bound for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Their true destination, however, is Iraq, where a total deployment ban for all OFWs is still in place.
Fake marriages and pseudo-training and assessment programs to justify departure are also common, the bureau said.
“The use of business or tourist visas for work is not permitted. Only those holding valid and existing employment visas could be considered legitimate OFWs,” Morente added.
The bureau is also concerned about the use of fraudulently acquired documents of young, underage Filipinas to work as household helpers abroad.
“It is very difficult to intercept these victims, as they are holding complete, valid, and original documents, but upon assessment our officers would find out that these were fraudulently acquired through misrepresentation,” Morente said.
Web of trafficking ‘big and complex’
According to Morente, all seven schemes aim to circumvent the Guidelines on Departure Formalities for International-bound passengers, issued by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), noting that the “web of trafficking is really big and complex.”
“The recent Senate hearings allowed us to see another layer of this rotten scheme, and hopefully we can, layer after layer, peel each one off until those at its core are caught and sanctioned,” he added.
He urged those who wish to work abroad to always check if their agencies are duly registered with the POEA before entering into transactions.
“Victims are often labeled as willing victims because in most cases, they agreed knowing fully that they are presenting wrong documents. But there is no such thing as a willing victim. Illegal recruiters and human traffickers use sly techniques to trick their victims into agreeing into something illegal. Aspiring OFWs should not fall for their tricks, and report them to the appropriate authorities,” he added.