3 Korea-bound Pinays intercepted at NAIA-3

Three Korea-bound Filipino women were barred from leaving the Philippines after officials of the Bureau of Immigration discovered they were carrying spurious overseas employment certificates. An overseas employment certificate is a proof that the departing worker is registered in the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and is hired by licensed recruiter. The bureau’s airport operations division chief Lina Pelia said the passengers were intercepted at the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport-3 in Pasay City. The passengers were about to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Incheon, South Korea, when they were offloaded by members of the Immigration’s travel control and enforcement unit, Pelia said. She refused to identify the names of the passengers due to a provision in the anti-human trafficking act that prohibits the disclosure of trafficking victims. According to the bureau, the passengers were allegedly recruited by a Korean, via his business affiliate in Manila, to work as entertainers at various nightclubs in South Korea. Immigration said the cases of the three passengers were referred to the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation. IACAT is mandated by law to coordinate and monitor the implementation of Republic Act 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, with the Department of Justice as the lead agency. — JE, GMA News