EDITORIAL — Grilling at the NAIA

It’s the peak of the travel season; let’s hope all agencies involved in mass transport will also deliver peak performance. Recent events, whether by air and sea, have not been encouraging. A passenger ferry caught fire on its way to Sulu from Zamboanga City; 29 have been confirmed killed, with another 23 still unaccounted for as of yesterday.

Some passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, meanwhile, have missed their flights due to lengthy questioning by immigration personnel, who explained that they were trying to protect people from human trafficking rings. The complaints come on the heels of reports, backed by video footage, of thievery and other anomalies involving Office for Transportation Security personnel at the NAIA.

Bureau of Immigration officials have apologized and promised to fine-tune the passenger screening procedures. They explained that the BI had noted a spike in cases of Filipinos recruited supposedly for high-paying jobs overseas in the information technology sector, who ended up forced to work in cryptocurrency scam operations in Myanmar and Thailand. A congressional investigation indicated connivance of some BI personnel in the human trafficking operations through the NAIA. The bureau then tightened its screening at the country’s main airport.

BI officials described the typical human trafficking victims as young professionals “with good travel records, gainfully employed and are graduates of good schools.” Stringent departure screening therefore covers such travelers these days. The lengthy, thorough questioning used to be limited mostly to departing passengers seeking overseas employment as domestic helpers or blue-collar workers.

Some NAIA officials have admitted that the travel slowdown during the pandemic led to understaffing and the loss of experienced personnel – problems that have yet to be sufficiently addressed. The new hires need further training, the officials admitted.

The NAIA, however, has been plagued by anomalies and unprofessional behavior involving its personnel even before the pandemic. While the efforts to prevent human trafficking, particularly the latest schemes targeting young professionals for cyber scam operations, are laudable, the measures must not wreak havoc on the travel arrangements of passengers who are not trafficking victims, and who pay hefty fines for missed flights or accommodations.

There are agencies that can provide expert advice in detecting potential victims of cryptocurrency scam rings. Protecting travelers from these criminal gangs need not be such a harrowing experience.