FILIPINAS TRAFFICKED TO SYRIA

Immigration officers probed over case of 44 women ‘sold’ to employers in Syria

THE Philippine Bureau of Immigration yesterday said it has launched an investigation into allegations that some of its officers were involved in the trafficking of 44 women to work in Syria.

A Senate inquiry into the human trafficking scheme was told that women using tourist visas travelled from the Philippines to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where they were promised work.

They were “locked up inside a dark and dirty dormitory and were made to sleep on the floor”, Senator Risa Hontiveros, who is spearheading the inquiry, had said.

After their 30-day visas expired, they were forced to go to Damascus where they were sold to employers for as much as US$10,000.

“Our Immigration officers seem to be sending our women into slavery,” Hontiveros said last week.

Dozens fled to the Philippine embassy in the Syrian capital “due to harsh working conditions”, the Foreign Ministry said last month.

It has repatriated at least six of the undocumented workers after securing exit visas for them.

“I am disappointed and frustrated about the alleged involvement of BI (Bureau of Immigration) personnel in these nefarious activities,” Immigration chief Jaime Morente told the Senate inquiry, according to a statement released yesterday.

At least 28 officers were under investigation over their alleged involvement in the scheme, he said.

“As already proven in the past, we will not hesitate to make them face the harshest penalties.”

Deep poverty in the Philippines has for decades driven people to seek higher paying jobs abroad. Millions work legally and illegally in a wide range of jobs overseas. The money they send home is a lifeline for their families.

Morente said more than 112,000 Filipinos were caught trying to leave the country without proper documents from 2017 to 2020, the majority were workers posing as tourists. In that period, 1,070 possible human trafficking victims were detected.