BI apologizes for lengthy interviews, says human trafficking of young workers on the rise

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration issued an apology Thursday night to a Filipino passenger who shared on social media that she missed her flight due to a lengthy screening process from immigration personnel.

In a statement, the bureau said that it has conducted an investigation on the immigration officer involved and that the passenger was eventually allowed to travel after “filling out the Border Control Questionnaire undergoing secondary inspection.”

“We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused the Filipina passenger and other Filipino passengers,” the bureau said.

In a now-viral Tiktok video, Cham Tanteras shared the details of an incident that took place before her trip to Israel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in December 2022.

Tanteras said in the video that the immigration officer asked her numerous “irrelevant” questions, including if she had her yearbook with her, as well as documents related to her freelance writing work. She was also asked to write an "essay" about her work in Siargao.

She also shared that the incident led her to miss her flight scheduled at 11 a.m. despite supposedly lining up for immigration at 6 a.m. She said she did not get a refund nor a rebooking for the missed flight.

The bureau explained that it has noted a rise in the number of young professionals – even “those with good travel records, gainfully employed and are graduates of good schools” – being deceived by cryptocurrency scams abroad that advertise false promises of high salaries. 

Scammers behind these false job advertisements have reportedly transported young Filipino professionals to Myanmar and other Asian countries and forced them to work under abuse.

“Victims have been promised a salary of 1,000 USD per month, but were forced to scam Westerners. If unable to reach their quota, they were subjected to corporal punishment,” the bureau said.

The bureau added that based on its monitoring, of the more than 32,000 Filipinos who deferred departure in 2022, 472 were “found to be victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment” while 873 individuals misrepresented themselves or submitted fraudulent documents. Meanwhile, at least 10 were minors attempting to fly out for work.

“The BI is but one of the numerous agencies of the government tasked to combat trafficking. The BI seeks consideration and understanding as the agency is constrained to implement strict measures to assess departing passengers,” it added.

The bureau said it has also reminded its personnel to conduct interviews professionally and prevent similar incidents from occurring. 

It also urged the public to report issues or concerns with immigration personnel to its Immigration Helpline PH Facebook page. -- Cristina Chi