Suspected trafficking victims stopped at Iloilo Int’l Airport

IMMIGRATION officials stopped six suspected female trafficking victims at the Iloilo International Airport on their way to Lebanon.

In a report, the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit said the women were aboard a flight to Hong Kong.

“Upon arriving in Hong Kong they were supposed to board their connecting flight to Beirut and end up working there as household service workers without the appropriate overseas work permits,” supervisor Ma. Timotea Barizo said.

Ma. Lourdes Mariano, Immigration head supervisor at the airport, said the victims had admitted to planning to work in Lebanon as househelpers without the required documents.

The bureau said the recruiter had processed their travel documents and their working visas were to follow once they land in Beirut.

They were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Region 6 for further investigation and assistance. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas