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NewsTranscript
00:00We will talk to the rescued Filipinos from a scam hub in Myanmar.
00:04Chinese ships that have no proper papers and other issues.
00:09We will talk to Bureau of Immigration Spokesperson, Donna Sandoval.
00:12Good morning and welcome to Balitang Hali.
00:15Good morning.
00:17What effort is the Bureau of Immigration making to protect our countrymen
00:22against possible human trafficking like the Filipinos in Myanmar?
00:27Yes, here in our borders, we're making sure that we implement strict departure formalities
00:33so that we can intercept if there are attempts of our countrymen
00:39who left the country to work illegally in some scam hubs abroad.
00:45But we cannot avoid that there are really people who leave and work there
00:53in the guise of being regular tourists.
00:55That's why one thing that we are really doing is we're ensuring that we release all the stories
01:01that we get, the information about this syndicate.
01:06The BI was the first one to issue a warning against this syndicate.
01:11We saw that it's growing.
01:13After our president declared it illegal, it looks like there are operations of such scam hubs
01:20that are spreading to other countries.
01:23That's why we're sending a warning to our countrymen.
01:27The initial three that were repatriated and released,
01:32we heard that they left through the back door.
01:36They risked everything, they boarded a boat.
01:39It's a very dangerous route.
01:41Then they transferred from country to country just to be abused in their jobs.
01:49We are also in the media.
01:50We are continuously releasing such stories to be a warning to our countrymen.
01:54But does this information reach them?
01:57I think it's more of some of our countrymen are risking because of the good offers
02:03that these companies are giving.
02:07If you notice, those who are repatriated, those who are victims,
02:11are not the usual victims of human trafficking.
02:15They are not informed, they are not well-informed, they are not social media savvy.
02:19Those who are victims of human trafficking are those who graduated from college,
02:24those who studied in good schools, have good history.
02:28If you notice, some of them traveled and some of them went on vacation.
02:31But they are tempted to agree to such offers because the offers are good.
02:39From what we heard, the first offers go as much as $800 a month with free board and lodging,
02:47free food and free travel.
02:50It's very enticing for young urban professionals.
02:54But we want the word to be out that this is not real and this is a scam
03:00that is victimizing and hurting the countrymen.
03:05That's why it's important to highlight that this type of work that has a high salary,
03:10especially in the region, it should be compared with the going rate here in the region.
03:16If it's too high, don't believe it.
03:19You mentioned the backdoor.
03:21This topic has been discussed for a long time, right?
03:23But why is it that until now, there are still a lot of criminals there?
03:26Well, this area is not covered by immigration.
03:30This is being monitored by local government units and policemen in the area.
03:36But we have been raising this concern because we see and we see that our countrymen are repatriating.
03:44They say that they went through the backdoor.
03:47I think this needs a whole-of-government approach.
03:50We are thankful to the Interagency Council Against Trafficking because in September,
03:55they initiated a study about these areas that are considered vulnerable in our country
04:01and can be used for illegal crossings.
04:04They have recommendations from the government agencies that need to make efforts to ensure the security
04:15of the areas, the wide areas where they have criminals,
04:19that this can be monitored and not used for illegal crossings.
04:24We will know if there is action, especially from the LGUs on those recommendations.
04:28It is different for the BIA that inspected the three ships anchored in the Manila Anchorage area on March 20.
04:35Has their investigation been established?
04:38For now, we are still collecting the records of the individuals that we were able to name there.
04:45We might be able to release information about this in the next few days.
04:50Incidentally, if these foreign nationals are there and they are working there, it looks like there's a violation.
04:57As mentioned by other agencies, if it's a local flag, foreign nationals should not be working there.
05:05Foreign nationals, if they have a work visa here, if they have an alien employment permit, that is company-specific.
05:12If they are assigned to a company or they are working there, that is the petitioner of their visa,
05:18they can only be seen working there.
05:21If they render services outside the company that petitioned them, that is considered as a violation
05:30and could be a reason to revoke their visas.
05:33When it comes to the deportation of former POGO bosses or workers,
05:37it is rumored that their flight has a stopover.
05:40Sometimes, the plane ticket is the deportee's own expense.
05:43Is the situation still the same and there's no direct flight to their final destination?
05:48Yes. Actually sir, the cost for deportation, for the ticket, is shouldered by the deportee himself.
05:55The Philippine government should not be the one issuing the funds for the deportation,
06:02but the deportee himself should be the one spending.
06:05If not him, his embassy will provide assistance.
06:09Part of the requirement is for them to submit a ticket, an outbound ticket,
06:14but through the discussions with the Senate as well as our Board of Commissioners,
06:21we saw that it's also important to tighten the deportation.
06:26While our goal, the goal of the Philippine government is to ensure that they are out of the country,
06:33that they are blacklisted, part of our efforts to protect our neighbors in the ASEAN region
06:42is to ensure that other Asian countries will not use this to further expand
06:50these online gaming companies and scam hubs in our neighboring countries.
06:58And of course, if they reach their destination, China, they will be charged and will be even more imprisoned, right?
07:03We will now go to Attorney Harry Roque, whom we last saw in the Netherlands.
07:07The Congress is looking for him. Is there anything the Bureau of Immigration can do to bring him back to the country?
07:13As of now, legally, there is nothing because he does not have a hold departure order, he does not have a warrant of arrest.
07:19What we have is the Immigration Lookout Bulletin that requires the immigration to monitor his whereabouts.
07:28But apart from that, he's not here yet.
07:31But if there's any kind of order against him, we will put it in our system
07:38so that we can have efforts to intercept him if he comes to us.
07:44Finally, Senator Bato de la Rosa is one of the names in the application for a warrant of arrest in the ICC because of his role in the drug war.
07:52Do we have information about him? Because he said that he will hide if he will be arrested by the ICC.
07:58At this moment, we have not received any formal information about the ICC, any warrant of arrest in relation to this.
08:08But we are monitoring if anything is needed.
08:12But this will be implemented by our policemen.
08:16Immigration is ready to support the actions of our national government on this one.
08:24And again, when you mentioned the backdoor, you're saying that the LGU has a big role here if that's what will be monitored.
08:29That's right.
08:30Thank you very much for your time on Balitang Hali.
08:33Thank you. Good morning.
08:34Bureau of Immigration Spokesperson, Dana Sandoval.