BI on the lookout at airports for OFWs bound for Iraq
by Jun RamirezBureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente ordered yesterday immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other ports to rigidly screen Filipinos traveling to Dubai to stop them from going and working in Iraq which is already the subject of a deployment ban due to the peace and order problem there.
(ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Morente said syndicates are using Dubai as a jump-off point to transport their victims to the war-ravaged Iraq.
The BI chief issued the order after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) alerted the bureau about the new modus operandi of syndicates to circumvent the deployment ban.
Morente said syndicates are using social media to recruit their victims promising them high salaries.
“0nline advertisements are falsely claiming that the deployment ban to Iraq has been lifted,” he said
“Immigration officers are directed to exercise extra vigilance in clearing the departure of Filipino travelers bound for Dubai, particularly those who are departing as tourists, and make sure that they are not going to other destinations in order to work,” Morente added
The BI chief also instructed airport officers to monitor names of several OFWs furnished by the DFA , who were reported to be headed for Baghdad to work as restaurant waiters.
There are also reports that Iraq-bound OFWs have reached their destination via Malaysia and Thailand.