176 alleged victims of human trafficking repatriated from Myanmar

The second batch of Filipino repatriates from Myanmar who were allegedly victims of human trafficking arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday morning.

The plane carrying a total of 176 repatriates landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 around 6 a.m., based on an Unang Balita report of GMA Integrated News’ Bam Alegre.

According to the Bureau of Immigration (BI), they issued show cause orders to seven of their employees allegedly linked in the facilitating of the “illegal exit” of the Filipinos in the country’s backdoors.

The BI employees are also currently facing preventive suspension.

Medical needs

The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, said that the medical needs of the individuals were checked and monitored as they went through standard procedures with the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

DOH personnel from San Lorenzo Ruiz General Hospital, Las Piñas General Hospital, and National Center for Mental Health provided medical and psychosocial support to the 176 repatriates at NAIA, according to the agency.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) also assured that the repatriates will not be punished even if they were involved in the scam hubs or they were overstaying in other countries.

The first batch, consisting of 30 Filipino repartees, arrived early Tuesday in Manila after they were rescued in scam hubs in Myawaddy, Myanmar.

The DMW has warned against offers that are “too good to be true,” saying that most human trafficking cases won’t allow the recruited persons to go through the regular departure process, but through backdoors.

Apart from the financial assistance, the DMW will also provide legal assistance and reintegration programs for the alleged human trafficking victims.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the repatriation of the 206 Filipinos was made possible after a week-long shuttle visit of DFA Migration Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega to Myanmar and Thailand for coordination with authorities.

The alleged human trafficking victims then crossed from Myawaddy, Myanmar to Mae Sot, Thailand, on March 24 to 25, and were bussed without any stopovers to the airport in Bangkok to take the flights to Manila.

“[T]he government wishes to reiterate its advice to all Filipinos to pass through the proper deployment procedures of the concerned government agencies, such as DMW, before leaving the country for overseas employment,” the DFA reminded. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News