Human trafficking: US Immigration Personnel Undergo Seminars to Boost the Campaign

In view of the recent spate of human trafficking instances in the South East of Asia, the government of Philippines has started retraining the immigration officials and have been holding refresher seminars to get the personnel to be better equipped against this evil.

Refresher Seminars: More than a hundred officers deployed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport attended the seminars in addition to the personnel at the Intelligence Division of the Bureau said Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr.

The refresher and retraining courses are held at major ports in Philippines since it is witness to a spate of crimes related not just to the narcotics and prohibited substances but also crimes related to human trafficking that leads to illegal organ transplants and/or forced prostitution for quite some time now.

Hyper rate of Progress: “This project is in line with the thrust of President Aquino to re-energize the government bureaucracy by eliminating corruption and professionalizing the rank and file,” Mr. Ricardo Jr.said. He explained that the officers and other personnel were required to undergo refresher course every three or four months so that they could be updated about the latest developments.

He also added that the trainings are aimed at improving the personnel’s understanding of the modus operandi and the various ways of faking national documents like passports and visas, which will help them to detect and apprehend the wrongdoers. Improvement of intelligence gathering is another aspect that they are trained .

Expansion of programs nationwide: He also disclosed that similar such training sessions will also be conducted on other ports of entry in places like including Cebu, Clark, Davao, Zamboanga, Laoag, and Subic.

In lieu of the same, the US has recently commended the Philippines government’s initiative and its hard work where Mr.Ricardo Jr. referred to a US State Department report recently released which stated that the Philippines has made good progress in combating human trafficking even as he vowed that the BI will keep continued vigilance in stopping human trafficking victims from leaving or entering the country.

He also said that the improvement of the country’s standing in the human trafficking scorecard based on the Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessments is a clear indication that the BI’s relentless drive against trafficking has certainly paid off, despite naysayers claiming that the bureau has over-zealously been doing its job.

Training combined with rest equals refreshing zeal: The spokesperson of the Bureau and lawyer, Maria Antonette Mangrobang revealed that around 50 NAIA-BI employees had also been instructed to attend the two previous training and refresher courses held last June 16 and another one that was scheduled today, June 23.