'Sweethearts' planned life as illegal workers in Kuwait

MANILA, Philippines –  Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents arrested last Wednesday two persons who allegedly pretended to be sweethearts at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in order to work illegally in Kuwait.

BI acting commissioner Ronaldo Ledesma said Marlon Abarentos and Rosalie Castillo were arrested last Feb. 9 when they tried to bribe bureau agents with $200 so they could board their Thai Airways flight for Bangkok, where they would take a connecting flight to Kuwait.

Ledesma said the couple claimed that they were going to Bangkok, where they would have a romantic Valentine’s Day date.

BI airport operations division chief Maria Antonette Bucasas said “both of them presented two-way plane tickets and vouchers of their three-day hotel reservation in Bangkok to make it appear that they are tourists.”

The BI also learned that the duo would have received their work visa and employment papers when they arrived in Bangkok. 

BI agents filed charges of bribery against the couple at the Pasay City prosecutor’s office and they were later turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking at the NAIA.