Hontiveros: BI officials receive P50,000 per Filipino trafficked out of the country

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday shared a personal account of a Filipino woman who was trafficked into Syria, including how she was able to make it past immigration counters through the aid of Bureau of Immigration officers.

"Mukhang kasabwat nanaman ang mga opisyal ng BI sa ilegal na kalakal. Lahat nalang ng pwedeng pagperahan sa airport, mukhang pinasok na ng mga korap na BI officers. Ilang mutation ng pastillas scam pa ang hindi natin alam?" Hontiveros asked.

The trafficked woman, "Alice," said she was promised work in Dubai, but found out during a stopover in Malaysia that she was, in fact, going to Syria. "Alice" also recounted how her recruiter, named Ana, would pay BI officers who then met "Alice," and other trafficked women, at the counter number 1 immigration desk in the airport.

"Naririnig ko ... 'Magbayad muna si Ana sa immigration bago palusutin ang mga tao ninyo.' ... [Ang bayad] bawat isa ay P50,000. Iba pa sasalubong sa gate, iba pa yung line number 1 ... babae yung nasa counter 1. Iba sumalubong sakin pagkatapos ko sa gate, counter 1, and then hanggang makarating ng eroplano, meron din," she shared.

"Habang may pinipirmahan ka doon sa gate na white paper, ipipila mo sa counter number 1, paglampas mo sa no.1, may iba naman sasalubong sayo sa eroplano," she added, clarifying that all these are BI employees.

Besides her illegal exit from the country, "Alice" also shared that her Syrian employer would hurt her. She would be held down by body guards of her employer, who is said to be a relative of the Syrian president, while being mauled.

"Five months ko dito [sa Syria], nakaranas ako ng pananakit kasi nagpaalam ako na uuwi ako kaya nagalit sila ...Hinahawak, tinatadyakan, sampal, sabunot, kaladlad," she said.

Due to these revelations, Hontiveros said that she will officially request the BI to furnish the names of the immigration officers who stamped the "Alice"'s passport, and noted that this would constitute a violation of the Anti Trafficking in Persons Act.

"Malaki laki ang penalty dito at non bailable. This is a case of large-scale trafficking, and trafficking in syndicate. Life imprisonment ang parusa dito," the senator added.

Hontiveros said that her office has two other testimonies of trafficked women that they will reveal in a Senate hearing. She said the women were indubitably trafficked, as they never consented to being brought to Syria and they were held against their will in various ways and some even abused.

"Pinangakuan din ang iba ng sweldo na at least $400, pero $200 lang ang natanggap nila. Samu't saring klase na ang abuso ang naranasan nila. Tapos mukhang sangkot pa ang sarili nating opisyal sa pagpapahamak sa kanila. Our immigration officers seem to be sending our women into slavery," Hontiveros said.

"I am calling the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice to attend to this matter immediately. In the middle of a global pandemic, our kababayans are stuck in a war-torn country. Nangako din sila na makikipagtulungan sila sa gubyerno para labanan ang mga illegal syndicates. Our government should stop at nothing -- I will stop at nothing -- to get these women home," the senator concluded.