MAIL-ORDER-BRIDE VICTIM ‘MARRIED’ INSIDE TRAVEL AGENCY

PASAY, Philippines — Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 rescued a Filipina suspected of being victimized by the mail-order-bride scheme.

The BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) reported that the woman attempted to depart for Fujian, China last April 8 with her alleged husband.

They were able to present a marriage certificate, claiming that they were married in 2019.

However, officers doubted her statements citing numerous inconsistencies between her statements and the documents she presented.

Contrary to the certificate she presented, the victim claimed that she and her alleged husband were married inside a travel agency in Manila.

She admitted that they paid P100,000 to obtain the marriage certificate, which was inspected by the BI’s Forensic Documents Laboratory and found to be genuine.

“This is yet again another case of the mail-order-bride scheme wherein women are promised a better life abroad but are made to work as domestic workers with little to no salaries,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.

Both the victim and her pseudo-husband were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation.