ZAMBOANGA CITY – Dozens of Filipinos who were on their
way to work illegally abroad were intercepted in this southern port city before
they could take a ferry for Sandakan City in the Malaysian state of Sabah, immigration
officials said Wednesday.
Officials said immigration agents intercepted 56 women
late Tuesday at the Port of Zamboanga while on their way to Sandakan. Many of
them claimed they were recruited from various places in the country to work in
Kuwait, Dubai, Lebanon, Bahrain and Qatar.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said: “The
workers were trying to use Malaysia as a jump-off point to other Middle Eastern
countries, where they received job offers to work in the service industry. Interviews
with those intercepted revealed that they came from different parts of the
country, and were recruited by agencies that some met through Facebook.”
Morente said authorities were tracking down the
recruiters of these people.
“These illegal syndicates are seemingly attempting to
look for other exit points to be able to evade strict immigration inspection. What
they have not realized is that we have spread out our personnel, and are
maintaining the same level of screening in all ports in the country, to ensure
that our kababayan will not be victimized by these unscrupulous individuals,” he
said.
He said since early this month, immigration
authorities have intercepted 54 other women in Zamboanga trying to illegally
cross Malaysia to work in Qatar and Dubai as caregivers and domestic helpers.
All those being held by the Bureau of Immigration were handed
over to the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking for further investigation,
according to Morente. (Zamboanga Post)
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