DAVAO CITY — Human traffickers using minors to bring their victims out of the country. This was uncovered by the Bureau of Immigration.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said two suspects were apprehended at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last month.
Morente said the modus operandi of human trafficking syndicates involve the use of female victims who are posing as nannies of minor children so they could evade immigration scrutiny.
Immigration port operations division chief Grifton Medina said the scheme was uncovered after two women were intercepted separately at the NAIA terminal 3 while accompanying minors in going abroad, purportedly to visit the children’s parents.
The first interception happened last Dec. 10 when a 42-year-old woman attempted to leave for Macau, who presented herself as the guardian of a 14-year-old girl.
It was followed by another incident last Dec. 17 when a 31-year-old woman was stopped from leaving for the United Arab Emirates with a 16-year-old boy. “In both instances, the women pretended to be yayas or guardians of their minor companions.
Human traffickers, according to Medina are shifting from one trick to the other but the Immigration has implemented a scheme to detect their illegal activities.
Ma. Timotea Barizo, chief of the BI’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) said , both passengers initially insisted that they were the nannies or guardians of their minor companions.
Marizo added “They claimed that they were only asked by the children’s parents to accompany their daughter and son in leaving and joining them abroad.”
But later, during the investigation, the suspects confessed that they do not know their companions and they were merely asked to accompany them by the parents to be able to travel abroad.
It was also learned that the incident was not the first time that the two minors travelled abroad with their alleged guardians.
The minors even admitted that they previously departed with different guardians but returned without any companion.
BI records show that the girl had twice left the country for Macao with two different women while the boy once traveled to Dubai with another female guardian, but all their companions did not return anymore.
“We believe that those alleged yayas ended up working abroad without proper documentation,” Barizo said.
