Pinoys bound for Bangkok face strict screening

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration has tightened the screening of passengers bound for Bangkok following reports that the Thai capital is being used as transit point of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) going to countries covered by the government deployment ban, officials said yesterday.

BI Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. ordered BI airport operations division acting chief Lina Andaman Pelia to institute measures that will prevent human traffickers and illegal recruiters from skirting the deployment ban on OFWs by initially sending their victims to other places before flying them to their final destinations where the ban is in effect.

David issued the order after learning that many travelers offloaded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in recent months were bound for Bangkok and were identified to be “tourist workers.”

Tourist workers refer to undocumented OFWs who attempt to leave the country in the guise of being tourists.

BI spokesperson Maria Antonette Bucasas-Mangrobang said they received intelligence reports that undocumented OFWs have been using the Bangkok International Airport as a jump-off point before going to Middle East, especially to Jordan and Lebanon.

Mangrobang cited an incident at the NAIA last Aug. 22 when four passengers were offloaded from their Bangkok-bound flights after it was discovered that they were actually going to Amman, Jordan.

BI said one of the passengers turned out to be a courier for a syndicate that recruited his three female companions, who were going to work as domestic helpers in Amman.

Members of the BI travel control and enforcement unit, who intercepted the passengers, said the women all pointed to their male companion as the one who provided their plane tickets and hotel accommodation vouchers, the BI said.

Mangrobang refused to provide the names of the passengers, citing a provision in the anti-human trafficking act that forbids public disclosure of trafficking victims.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, and Nigeria are covered by the government deployment ban.   – With Rudy Santos