MANILA — The Philippines said Sunday that at least 14 immigration officers were under investigation for alleged involvement in the human trafficking of poor Filipinos to violence-torn Syria. Immigration commissioner Ricardo David said his office was cooperating with a probe being carried out by a special government task force on trafficking, which could lead to criminal charges or the firing of officers. “We assure the public that this bureau under my watch will not tolerate these shenanigans,” David said. A total of 19 immigration officers, who were found to have helped illegal recruitment agencies, were dismissed from their jobs last year, David added. The labor ministry has said gullible Filipinos from poor provinces have been duped into traveling to Syria, many of them women who end up employed as maids under very poor working conditions. It said an average of 100 Filipinos were entering Syria every month. The Philippine government banned Filipinos from working in Syria and ordered a mandatory evacuation of its nationals there in December, some 10 months after an uprising against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad broke out. Out of almost 7,000 Filipinos known to be in Syria, some 1,500 have already been successfully repatriated, the labour ministry has said. Jordanian journalist held captive in south A Jordanian journalist and two Filipinos hired to help him with reporting are being held captive on an island in the southern Philippines by a one-armed leader of the militant group Abu Sayyaf, the interior secretary said Sunday. Jesse Robredo said that Baker Atyani, an Islamabad-based journalist for Middle East broadcast network Al-Arabiya, and two colleagues, are being held by militant Radullan Saheron on Jolo island. “They are now being held against their will,” Robredo told reporters in a text message. “There was no mention of ransom, but one of the Filipino captives called his wife and asked the latter to contact his company.” The two Filipinos, Rolando Letrero and Ramelito Vela, work for a Manila-based media production house and were hired by Atyani. Al-Arabiya said it has lost contact with Atyani. Robredo said they presumed that the captive crew was asking something from his employers, “but, we cannot say outrightly if its ransom. We are keeping our lines open for communication.” Saheron is one of two remaining Philippines Islamist militant leaders on the US State Department's terrorist watch list. The other is Isnilon Hapilon. Washington has put up to $5 million bounty on their capture dead or alive. The Philippines initially denied Atyani was a hostage, even though the Jordanian foreign ministry issued a statement last week saying he was a captive in the southern Philippines. — Agencies
