BI INTERCEPTS 4 TRAFFICKING VICTIMS, ESCORT AT CLARK AIRPORT ON CHRISTMAS DAY

OPERATIVES of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Christmas Day intercepted four alleged victims of human trafficking and their escort while attempting to leave the country via Clark Airport  in Pampanga.

The five were blocked before they could board a Cebu Pacific flight for Singapore on Wednesday morning.

BI Immigration and Border Enforcement Section chief Mary Jane Hizonn said the victims, all in their 20s, initially claimed that they were traveling alone to Singapore as tourists.

Upon closer scrutiny by BI personnel, they later admitted that they were traveling with a 38-year-old escort and that they were actually bound for Cambodia to work as encoders in call centers.

According to the victims, they were recruited by an Indonesian woman and were offered a P 60,000 salary to illegally work in Cambodia.

Upon questioning, the escort admitted that she was ordered by the recruiter to assist the four victims to enter Singapore and eventually cross to Cambodia.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado warned the public against syndicates that recruit Filipinos to work in call centers abroad because most often, the jobseekers end up working in scam hubs, where they are forced to engage in catphishing.

Catphishing is an online scam in which scammers create fake identities and fabricate relationships with their victims, who they later ask to send money or invest in bogus businesses.

The female escort and the four women victims were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation.