1 week Ago By CBCP News
The Philippine immigration bureau has warned of a new human trafficking scheme in which victims are made to pose as missionaries during overseas travel. Immigration chief Joel Anthony Viado raised the alarm after receiving reports that traffickers are exploiting religious cover to bypass airport scrutiny. Immigration officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on April 1 intercepted three individuals attempting to leave the country under the guise of a church mission.
According to the bureau, the three women — ages 23, 25, and 50 — were scheduled to board a Scoot Airlines flight to Singapore, with a connecting flight to Thailand. The alleged trafficker and her two companions claimed to be full-time church volunteers assigned to a mission in Thailand. “However, discrepancies in their documents raised suspicion, leading to further questioning,” the agency said.
The two younger women later admitted they were not part of a missionary group but licensed teachers recruited for illegal employment at a school in Thailand. They also said they were recruited by the woman they were traveling with, who identified herself as the founder and head preacher of their congregation. The women said they had not yet been hired but were instructed to prepare documents such as transcripts in case the school decided to employ them.
Authorities said that the recruiter had recently traveled to Thailand and had previously left the country with another group she claimed were church members but had not returned. “This case echoes the ‘Bitbit’ scheme, where a frequent traveler, acting as a courier, attempts to transport a group of passengers under false pretenses, while victims are unknowingly coerced into illegal work,” Viado said. The victims were referred to the government’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance.
In a similar 2011 case, six Filipinas bound for Lebanon posed as nuns to avoid immigration scrutiny. They later admitted they were heading to work illegally in the Middle Eastern nation. The bureau also reported that the National Bureau of Investigation arrested the alleged recruiter on April 3, after the Department of Migrant Workers confirmed she was not licensed to recruit overseas workers.
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