Philippine Immigration Bureau will strictly investigate traffickers who "forge travel documents!

According to Philippine media reports, on November 30, the Philippine Immigration Bureau (BI) stated that it will coordinate with the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to conduct a rigorous investigation of traffickers involved in forging travel documents (including airport entry permits).

Commissioner Norman Tansingco issued an order to Carlos Capulong, head of the BI Port Operations Department (POD), asking airport authorities to investigate the issue.

He issued the order this month after airport security checks and police intercepted several victims.

Three victims intercepted in early November reportedly used fake airport passes to pretend to be employees of various airport franchisees in order to be able to enter the gate. it was learned that airport personnel also found forged entry stamps on their passports and boarding passes.

After hearing that another female victim had been intercepted on 16 November, the Director of Immigration increased the urgency. The victim who went to Kuala Lumpur presented a fake pass and tried to enter the employee entrance. She also had a fake signature on her passport and boarding pass.

Tansinko pointed out that the previous victims may have used employee entrances to evade strict immigration departure assessments and worked illegally in countries such as Myanmar.

The Director of Immigration added: "We are investigating several victims of a trafficking syndicate that induced our Filipinos to work as a call center agent abroad but was shipped to a third country as an online scammer, and we are trying to see if there is a connection between the two cases. This is already a big security issue and we believe it is necessary to investigate the matter thoroughly with local law enforcement agencies and the MIAA."

In 2014, a similar incident occurred when immigration officials intercepted four victims of human trafficking who tried to use the employee entrance.

"This has been happening all the time and something has to be done to stop it. We are carrying out strict departure formalities and must ensure that all departing passengers are checked and evaluated by our officials," he said.