28 IMMIGRATION MEN PROBED FOR SYRIA SEX TRADE OF PINAY OFWS

AT least 28 immigration officers are now under investigation for their alleged involvement in “sexual trafficking” of 44 Filipino women in Syria.

This was disclosed by Bureau of Immigration (BI) Jaime Morente who admitted being embarrassed by the involvement of BI officers in this latest scam as revealed at Tuesday’s joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, chaired by Senator Risa Hontiveros, and on Labor, led by Sen. Joel Villanueva.

Morente said he has ordered the immediate creation of a fact-finding committee to determine how the women managed to depart the country and those who facilitated their travel.

“I am at a loss for words from what I heard. The truth is I felt embarrassed. I am disappointed and frustrated about the alleged involvement of BI personnel in these nefarious activities,” he said.

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

He said the involvement of a handful of immigration personnel with such schemes has put the BI in a bad light anew and affected even the immigration officers who have been performing their duties fairly and honestly, especially those involved in activities of the IACAT (Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking).”

Morente bared that from 2017 to 2020, a total of 112,033 Filipinos were stopped from leaving the country for attempting to leave with improper documents.

“Majority of this number were those seen to be workers leaving in the guise of being tourists,” he shared.

In the same period, a total of 1,070 victims were also referred to the IACAT for being possible victims of trafficking in persons.

Morente noted that the Philippines has upgraded and consistently retained its Tier 1 ranking for the fifth year in a row, in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, and this attests, he said, to the agency’s significant efforts to protect departing Filipinos.

A Tier 1 rating means the Philippines has continually demonstrated serious and sustained efforts to combat the crime, making the country the forerunner in the South East Asian region when it comes to efforts against human trafficking.

“Like what we raised during the previous hearings, this scheme has grown with people from many sectors involved. We hope that through this investigation, we can finally be rid of this by pulling it from its roots,”he added. Morente said they have sought the help of the Department of Justice, their mother department, in investigating and prosecuting those involved.

At least 86 immigration personnel were earlier suspended and are now facing various cases for their involvement in the so-called“pastillas”corruption scheme.

Morente added that while they have dismantled the members of said syndicate following last year’s Pastillas inquiry, as well as put in place safeguards to prevent it from recurring,hebelievesthatthelong-termsolutionto theperennialproblemofcorruptioninthebureau is the passage of the new immigration law.