The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality has vowed to unmask the syndicate within the Bureau of Immigration (BI) that is actively involved in the outbound trafficking of Filipino women.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate women’s panel, said the persons who were linked to the so-called “pastillas scam” are the “same cast of characters” that are now being mentioned in the alleged involvement of BI officials who facilitated the departure of Filipino women trafficked to Syria.

Hontiveros made the remark, after hearing the testimony of “Diana”—an OFW trafficked to Syria who testified at the resumption of the panel’s virtual hearing on Tuesday, March 23.

During the hearing, BI Comissioner Jaime Morente named the four immigratin officers in the stamping of the exit documents of at least four Fiipino women trafficked to Syria as Mark Darwin Talha, Nerissa Pineda, John Michael Angeles and Ervin Ortañez

Ortañez is the son of Erwin Ortañez, head of the Travel Control Enforcement Unit that is under the supervision of former Ports Operations Division (POD) chief Marc Red Mariñas, who has been accused of being the head of the ‘pastillas’ scam syndicate.

On the other hand, Pineda and Angeles are already under preventive suspension because of their involvement in the “pastillas” scheme, according to Morente.

“We need to crack down on the human trafficking operation in the BI. This is an outright violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. The names found to be involved in this crime will be sentenced to life imprisonment,” Hontiveros said.

“Naniniwala akong mabubuwag ang sindikato na ito sa BI. Hindi kami titigil. Nanganganak an gaming imbestigasyon at dumadami ang ebidensya (I believe we’ll be able to topple this syndicate in the BI. We will not stop because our investigation is becoming fruitful and the evidences are getting numerous),” she further said.

During the hearing, Hontiveros also showed Viber screenshots of conversations shared by whistleblower Allison “Alex” Chiong, which displayed the list of names of the women to be trafficked out of the country and were signed off by a certain “FM.”

Chiong, who said he was part of the syndicate for some time, said the “FM” is Fidel Mendoza, Mariñas’ right hand man.

Asked by Sen. Joel Villanueva if the “mafia” facilitating the “pastillas” modus is the same group involved in the outbound trafficking of Filipino women, Chiong answered in the affirmative.

“Tama po. Iisang grupo lang (That is right. It’s only one group)...This is a well-built business model,” Chiong said.

For his part, Morente vowed to cooperate with the Senate’s inquiry and assured his support to the investigation.

“I am really disappointed and frustrated about the involvement of BI personnel in these nefarious activities. However, I am thankful your honor, that these people are exposed because they give the bureau a bad name,” Morente told the Senate committee.

“It is also unfair to the many good and committed immigration officers who perform their job religiously and faithfully, especially those personnel who are involved in the Inter-Agency Council for Anti-Trafficking (IACAT),” he further said.