Domingo issued the order after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) informed the BID about reports that groups of Filipino women have been entering Bahrain in batches to engage in sex trade.
The DFA also reported that only last month, 16 Filipino women were sent to Bahrain in two groups at the instance of a prostitution ring jointly operated by Arabs and Filipinos. They were said to have lured by promises of earning more than $20,000 in just three months if they would work as prostitutes.
It was gathered that the women were sent to Bahrain by a certain Sharif Ad Ibrahim of a recruitment agency based in Paco, Manila which was believed to be the syndicate’s conduit in the Philippines.
Domingo also issued an order requiring all Filipino single women bound for Bahrain to secure an entry visa from the Bahrain Embassy in Manila or to have their trips sponsored by a Bahrain-based travel agency.
Bahrain visas are issued at the ports of entry in Bahrain.
Domingo said those who fail to secure their Bahrain visa in Manila or are not sponsored by a travel agency will not be allowed to leave in order to protect them from becoming victims of the prostitution syndicate.
The immigration chief, however, said that families and business travelers, who have a legitimate purpose in going to Bahrain, are exempted from the requirement.
Domingo, quoting the report of the Philippine consulate in Manama, said Filipino women who were scheduled to leave for Bahrain would replace Russian prostitutes who were deported by the Bahrain government.
Meanwhile, eight Chinese nationals were barred from entering the country after they made a mistake of showing their plane tickets which they would use in going to the US mainland.
The eight were supposed to show their return plane tickets to Hongkong but because of a confusion over the problem in language, they showed their separate plane tickets from Manila to Los Angeles.
Immigration authorities at the NAIA said that the eight would try to illegally enter the US on separate travel documents by passing through the Philippines. – Rey Arquiza