A woman, whose complaint against the Bureau of Immigration (BI) went viral on social media last May, was arrested due to human trafficking, the bureau said.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the still unnamed suspect was intercepted last July 30 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 along with five other passengers who were attempting to depart as tourists bound for Malaysia and Singapore.
They underwent secondary inspection and were interviewed by the immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES).
During the interview, it was confirmed that the five were recruited to work abroad as massage therapists, entertainer, tutor, and caregiver and were made to pose by their recruiter as her employees.
The BI’s I-PROBES immediately referred the case to the IACAT.
The National Bureau of Investigation – International Airport Investigation Division (NAIA-IAID) and cases against the recruiter for Qualified Trafficking in Persons under Section 6 (c) of Republic Act No. 9208, as amended, Illegal Recruitment committed by a syndicate and in large scale under Republic Act No. 8042, as amended, and Estafa under Art. 315, par. 2(a) of the Revised Penal Code.
The recruiter had previously made headlines on social media after posting last May 10 about her complaint on the procedures of the Bureau.
In her Facebook post, she lamented why she was being stopped from traveling despite having complete documents.
“These human traffickers use social media as their playground, where they blatantly recruit victims and even have the audacity to air complaints about procedures protecting Filipinos,” Tansingco said.
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