EDITORIAL - The road to hell

The intention is laudable, but people know what paves the road to hell. Especially in this country where a lot gets lost between the passage of laws and rules and their implementation. This is what opponents think of the additional requirements for self-funded and sponsored international travels of Philippine passport holders.

Starting Sept. 3, departure requirements for Filipino travelers will include a confirmed roundtrip ticket, proof of accommodation, financial capacity, proof of employment and purpose of travel. For sponsored trips, a confirmed roundtrip ticket will be required along with a notarized copy of the sponsor’s letter, an original birth or marriage certificate issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority as well as a valid work permit or visa.

The new rules were crafted by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking or IACAT amid a recent spate of cases in which Filipinos were duped into working in cryptocurrency and other digital scam operations abroad, particularly in Myanmar and Thailand.

Even before these scams, many prospective overseas Filipino workers had been victimized by human traffickers. The OFWs ended up being forced to work in scam operations or environments that opened them to sexual and other forms of abuse.

Today, digital technology has facilitated illegal recruitment. The recent human trafficking schemes have targeted tech-savvy, educated young workers who were promised high-paying jobs in business process outsourcing companies abroad. Once lured into the illegal operations, the Filipinos were forced to work under abusive conditions and were beaten if they tried to leave.

In response to these recent cases mostly involving cryptocurrency scam operations and illegal offshore gaming, the IACAT came up with the additional outbound travel requirements. As critics have pointed out, however, the new rules will burden millions of travelers and worsen the airport experience.

The Senate is now considering asking the Supreme Court to issue an injunction on the implementation of the new requirements and eventually to strike down the IACAT rules for being unconstitutional. While senators acknowledged the need to boost the campaign against human trafficking, they stressed that the means approved by the IACAT needed fine-tuning, and other measures could be pursued.

Among other things, the campaigns against cybercrime and illegal recruitment need strengthening. The Bureau of Immigration, whose personnel have been implicated in human trafficking operations through the airports, needs a more thorough housecleaning. Better coordination is needed with authorities in other countries for timely assistance for distressed migrant workers.

The lines at airport departure areas in this country are long enough. The IACAT rules will turn the departure process into an obstacle course. And with many Filipinos eager to find work overseas, there’s no guarantee that the additional burden will stop human trafficking.