Bullets in bag send 14 Pinays back home

Fourteen Filipinas were deported back to Manila yesterday after one of them was found to be carrying two bullets in her bag upon arrival in Seoul, South Korea.

The women, whose ages range from 18 to 25, had been recruited by a Korean national identified as Kim Hong. They were to be matched for marriage with Korean men in Seoul.

Alaine Villanueva said she forgot to take the bullets – her good luck charms – out of her bag when she and 13 others, left the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Wednesday afternoon for Seoul on board a Korean Airlines flight.

"I always bring the bullets with me everywhere I go because they give me good luck," Villanueva said. "This time, they gave me bad luck."

The Filipinas were detained for 14 hours by Korean immigration authorities and were deported back to Manila.

They said they did not have to spend a single centavo for their travel to Seoul because their future husbands shouldered all the expenses.

Asked why they would be willing to marry Koreans they did not know, almost all of them gave the same answer: "There is no life with Filipinos."

All the women had tourist visas issued by the Korean Embassy in Manila.

Their deportation followed of another batch of 15 Filipinos who arrived at NAIA Wednesday afternoon. They were rounded up at their port of entry in France on suspicion that they would be working there.

Simeon Vallada, head immigration supervising officer said the passports of the 14 women were confiscated on instructions of Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo. They would be used as basis for blacklisting their Korean recruiter.