Immigration stops 31 Pinoy 'folk singers' at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) stopped 31 Filipinos, who claimed to be folk singers bound for Hong Kong, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 yesterday.

BI airport operations division chief Ferdinand Sampol, in a report to BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, said the 26 women and five men initially said they were going to Hong Kong on vacation, but later admitted that they paid P500,000 to an agency in order to find work in Italy. They were supposed to get their Schengen visa in Hong Kong.

The 31 Filipinos were intercepted and interrogated with the help of the Migrant Compliance and Monitoring Group, BI intelligence officers and members of the Department of Justice’s Task Force Against Human Trafficking.

Sampol said the 31 Filipinos, whose names are being withheld due to security risks, were turned over to the task force for further questioning. – Rudy Santos