The Bureau of Immigration (BI) noted the recurrence of illegal recruitment victims presenting fake overseas employment certificates (OEC).
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco on Thursday cited the case of a female passenger intercepted last July 18 after presenting a fake OEC.
An OEC is the basic requirement for departing overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and is issued by the Department of Migrant Workers.
The female passenger, 50 years old, was recruited to work as a household service worker in Hong Kong. She attempted to depart via a Cebu Pacific Air flight at the Clark International Airport before being intercepted by immigration personnel.
Further verifications with DMW officers at the airport confirmed that the document was indeed counterfeit.
“Our system is integrated with the DMW, making it easier for us to detect fake certificates,” said Tansingco. He shared that the BI has had numerous meetings with the DMW to develop systems to make it easier for departing OFWs.
“It is the directive of President Marcos to ensure smooth and seamless processing for OFWs,” said Tansingco. “We are in full support of the DMW’s efforts, to protect our workers from exploitation,” he added.
The female victim claimed that her fake OEC was processed through a friend, and she was made to believe that it was legitimately processed through the DMW.
BI collabs with DMW to fight fake OECs
Her case was forwarded to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and action against the supplier of the fake document.
Meanwhile, BI said that it expects a significant increase in foreign tourists by the end of the year.
According to BI Tourist Visa Section Chief Raymond Remigio, they saw more than 91,000 tourist visa extensions during the first half of 2023.
“This is a significant increase from July to December of last year when we only saw around 77,000 extensions,” said Remigio. “Our aggressive information campaign, and our efforts to make applications easier for the transacting public has definitely contributed to this rise,” he stated.
Commissioner Tansingco shared that they project a 20% increase in tourist visa extensions in the next six months.
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