Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have foiled another human trafficking attempt with the interception of three women illegally recruited to work as bar girls in Hong Kong.
The BI’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) said the passengers were intercepted last Friday at the NAIA 1 terminal as they were about to board a Hong Kong Airlines flight.
They attempted to leave in the guise of being tourists but the immigration officers who processed them noted numerous inconsistencies in their statements.
“It was during the interview that they admitted they were going to work in Hong Kong and that they were promised salaries of 500 Hong Kong dollars a day,” said BI-TCEU head Ma. Timotea Barizo.
Barizo said women hired as club entertainers abroad are eventually forced into prostitution.
It was learned that the women were recruited by a female agent whom they only met via Facebook.
They admitted they each spent P15,000 for their plane tickets, but the cost of processing their travel documents was shouldered by their recruiter whom they will pay through salary deduction.
“This is a trick being used by human traffickers. Indebting victims for the cost of their recruitment essentially forces them into debt bondage,” she added.
The women were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance and further investigation. (Jun Ramirez).
