BI scam suspects tagged in human trafficking

MANILA, Philippines — The group of Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers tagged in the so-called “pastillas scam” is the same clique involved in the outbound trafficking of Filipino women, including those duped into working as prostitutes, witnesses told the Senate committee on women and children yesterday.

At the resumption of the inquiry by the committee – chaired by Sen. Risa Hontiveros – into the trafficking of Filipinos, survivors and whistle-blowers from the BI named several immigration officials involved in the sending of workers to Syria where there is an existing worker deployment ban.

“There is clearly a business model where they dupe their fellow Filipinos to be sent abroad to become slaves. For P50,000 for each Filipino woman, our own officials place our countrymen in danger,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.

“We need to crack down on the human trafficking operation in the Bureau of Immigration,” she added.

Among the BI officers mentioned in the hearing as allegedly involved in the trafficking of Filipino women were Mark Darwin Talha, Nerissa Pineda, John Michael Angeles and Ervin Ortañez.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the agency has started investigating the officers involved in trafficking 44 Filipinos, including the four women who testified in the hearing.

During the hearing, Hontiveros showed Viber screenshots from BI whistle-blower Alex Chiong, which displayed the list of names of the women to be trafficked out of the country, signed off by a certain “FM.” Chiong said this “FM” is a certain Fidel Mendoza.

A trafficked Filipina, alias Diana, recounted her ordeal – from being illegally recruited in the Philippines to being forced to have an abortion while being trafficked to Syria. Diana also said her illegal recruiter paid BI officers to let her leave the country without undergoing inspection.