The Philippines Bureau of Immigration (BI) has warned that Malta is “a hotspot for trafficking” of Filipinos looking for “greener pastures abroad”.
In an alert issued on Sunday, the BI, an arm of the Department of Justice, said it had intercepted two “human trafficking victims bound for Malta”.
This was the second warning issued by the authorities in the Philippines in as many months about immigration scams concerning work in Malta where victims are lured to the country by employment recruiters.
The recruiters make their “victims” believe they will get work permits quickly but are then exploited once they reach the island.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said in a statement that the victims intercepted before departure posed as friends travelling as tourists as they prepared for their April 29 flight to Bangkok at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Unaware visas to Malta had been cancelled
According to the BI chief, the passengers initially declared leaving for a four-day vacation and presented proof of local employment at dental clinics in the country.
“Both women later admitted during a secondary inspection that their final destination was Malta and that their documents were only handed to them by an unknown person that same morning outside the airport,” added Tansingso.
The victims, however, were unaware that their employment visas to Malta were already cancelled even before leaving the country, he added. The two women said they were instructed by their recruiter to wait for the rest of their travel documents upon reaching Bangkok.
“We call on the public to exercise caution in dealing with recruiters. Several investigations have shown exploitation of domestic and foreign victims in the Mediterranean, and this has long been a cause of concern,” said Tansingco.
“The BI understands being enticed by greener pastures abroad, but by not going through the correct process, aspiring migrant workers risk getting abused overseas,” he added.
The trafficking victims were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and filing of appropriate charges against their recruiters.
Just last February, the BI reported that Filipino workers were being charged between €2,000 and €6,000 for “guaranteed” jobs in Malta and Malaysia by an illegal Filipino employment recruiter.
The alleged recruiter, Jonnalyn Sebastian, 39, was arrested by the Philippine National Police and the Philippines Department of Migrant Workers as part of a police mission investigating key players in an illegal recruitment scheme.