By Jun Ramirez

More than 7,000 Filipino travelers were barred from leaving the country in the first three months of the year as a result of the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) intensified campaign against human trafficking.

BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said a total of 7,311 passengers were barred from leaving from January to March for failure to comply with travel requirements for out-bound travelers.

“We have been very careful in assessing these travelers as we wanted to ensure that they will not be victimized by human traffickers and illegal recruiters,” Medina said.

Medina clarified that being disallowed does not mean perpetual denial to leave the country.

“Passengers whose departures were previously deferred will be allowed after complying with requirements based on the DOJ guidelines,” he stated.

These requirements were set by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).

Erwin Ortañez, who heads the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU), said more than 6,000 (84 percent) of the passengers came from NAIA while the rest were stopped in the airports of Mactan, Clark, Iloilo, Kalibo, and Davao.

Ortañez also disclosed that most of those who were barred had doubtful purpose for travel while others submitted spurious supporting documents.

Among them were 13 underage overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who falsified their birth dates in their passports.

Also stopped from leaving were scores of workers who presented fake overseas employment certificates (OECs).

With this, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente commended BI port personnel for their vigilance.

“We will continue our drive to protect our countrymen from these syndicates who keep on sending workers abroad illegally, the BI chief added.

“The fight against human trafficking and illegal recruitment is a priority for this administration,” he said.