By U.S. News Agency / Asian

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) lauded the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for preventing the departure of Lebanon-bound overseas Filipino workers as part of the government’s intensified campaign against human trafficking.

In a letter to BI Officer-In-Charge Ronaldo Ledesma, Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Gilberto Asuque said his office is closely following the BI’s efforts to prevent the departure of OFWs bound for Beirut.
Asuque commended the BI for ensuring that only OFWs with clearances from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration are allowed to leave the country and stopping those bound to countries such as Lebanon, where the Philippines has an existing deployment ban.

He noted that most Beirut-bound OFWs being offloaded by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other airports nationwide are victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking.

The envoy explained that the ban aims to put OFWs out of harm’s way and from abuses and other forms of maltreatment that usually arise from illegal recruitment and human trafficking.

The Aquino government launched an intensified campaign against human trafficking shortly after taking office through the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) headed by Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar, who is also the undersecretary-in-charge of the Bureau of Immigration.

Meanwhile, at the request of Asuque, immigration officers at the NAIA processed the first batch of 90 distressed OFWs who arrived from Lebanon last week. Another batch of 23 arrived on November 15 while a third group of 50 arrived the following day.

Lawyer Arvin Santos, BI airport operations division chief, said the repatriated Filipinos include prisoners who have served their sentences in Lebanese jails and part-time OFWs who sought assistance from the Philippine embassy in Beirut.

“Many of them recounted their ordeal in Lebanon and claimed to have experienced physical, verbal and other forms of maltreatment from abusive employers and their illegal recruiters,” Santos said.

He added said most of the repatriated OFWs went to Lebanon early this year or late last year in defiance of the government’s deployment ban.