BI tests new system vs traffickers, colluding execs

Hoping to curb collusion among human trafficking syndicates and immigration officers, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday started testing a new queuing system at the country’s premier airport that prevents passengers from selecting immigration counters. The new system came after BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma ordered the relief and reassignment of some immigration officers, who were suspected of conniving with labor smugglers. The syndicates’ modus operandi involves instructing victims to line up before a particular immigration counter when they leave the country, where colluding immigration officers allow the passengers to depart even with suspicious travel papers. Under the “S-Line" queuing system, arriving and departing passengers will not be allowed to select the immigration counter that will serve them, as they would be distributed to different counters from a single, snaking line, Ledesma explained. The old queuing system allows multiple straight lines in the airport immigration areas with corresponding immigration counter numbers, allowing passengers to queue before the counter of their choice. “The initial results are very encouraging. Our immigration officers have been very cooperative in the implementation of the new system, and we hope to adopt it in all our arrival and departure counters at the soonest possible time," said Ledesma in a release. The test run of the S-Line was started at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal I departure area last Wednesday night, and further tests were made on Thursday, he added. In the past two months, the BI has offloaded thousands of passengers from airlines on suspicion of being victims of human trafficking as “tourist workers". Tourist workers are Filipino travelers armed only with tourist visas but who intend to work upon reaching their destination, making them vulnerable to abuse because of their illegal status. In a 2010 human trafficking report by the US State Department, the Philippines retained its “Tier 2 watch list" rank, indicating that the country “does not fully comply with, but is making significant efforts to meet" the agency’s standards. (See: Philippines remains on US human trafficking watch list)—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV