The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday, May 31, warned those behind the issuance of fake overseas employment certificates (OES) that they will be prosecuted for human trafficking, a heinous crime.

“‘Yan po tinuturing po na human trafficking at non-bailable offense po ‘yan (This is considered human trafficking and it is a non-bailable offense),” said BI Spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval during an interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.

Sandoval explained that a person can be held liable for human trafficking if found providing fake documents to be used by Filipinos to leave the Philippines for work abroad.

She issued the warning over the resurgence of the scheme. "Actually hindi po bago itong modus na ito. Dati na po natin itong nakikita (This is not new. We have seen this before),” she said.

Sandoval observed that the sale of fake OECs are being propagated in social media like Facebook and TikTok as well messaging applications like WhatsApp.

“Ito pong social media networks na ito ay ginagamit upang makapagbenta nitong mga pekeng overseas employment certificates (these social media networks are being used to sell these fake OECs),” she said.

“Hindi po natin kailangan dumaan sa ilegal na paraan (We don’t need to do it illegally),” said Sandoval who assured that the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) already made it easier for the public to secure OECs.

Sandoval said persons using fake OECs will easily be identified at the airports since the BI has a system in place that will verify if an individual received the certificate from the DMW.

“Immediate po nakikita natin kung legitimate o hindi ang document (We can immediately know if the document is legitimate or not),” she assured.

Sandoval noted that OES is a required document for departing overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

“Ito po ay nagpapatunay na sila po ay dumaan sa Department of Migrant Workers, legal po ang trabahong kanilang pupuntahan, vetted po ito ng ating national government at safe po na puntahan ng ating mga kababayan (This is proof that they underwent the processes at the DMW, that their work is legal, and that the job has been vetted by the national government, and that the work that they would be doing are safe),” she explained.