The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday warned anew against an emerging human trafficking scheme trend of using fake Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO) certificates.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Filipinos should be vigilant against the new strategy of illegal recruiters.
“We believe that this is an emerging trafficking trend, victimizing Filipinas to possibly work in scam call centers, as mail order brides, or as illegal surrogates… Hence, we are issuing a warning against Filipinos against this scheme,” he said.
The BI said the CFO certificate may only be obtained after completion of the CFO’s Guidance and Counseling Program (GCP) on the required predeparture seminar.
The seminar intends to educate Filipinos, in intermarriages or those in a relationship with other nationalities, with information on the cultural and social realities outside the country.
But some Filipinos fall prey to waive attendance on the GCP through the scheme of online fixers securing them with fake certificates.
Amid this, the BI vowed to intensify collaboration with the CFO.
“With the creation of the shared information system between the BI and the CFO, schemes like this will not be able to pass,” Tansingco said.
Last June 16, immigration officers intercepted a 29-year-old female victim bound for Pudong, China with her supposed Chinese husband at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The verification, however, showed that her CFO’s GCP certificate was fake.
A similar incident happened last May with two separate instances intercepted by the BI.
