Police intensify monitoring of Vietnamese migrants in Bataan

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Police authorities here have ordered the monitoring of Vietnamese migrants with the discovery of an alleged syndicate recruiting them to work illegally in six provinces including Bataan.

Senior Inspector Jen Cruz, chief of Women and Children  Protection Desk at Camp Tolentino, Bataan Police Provincial headquarters said the Bureau of Immigration  directed law –enforcement units strict screening policy after 178 Vietnamese nationals had surrendered and sought to be declared indigents.

The Vietnamese nationals reportedly worked as housekeepers, vendors, porters, carpenters  and other blue-collar jobs and allegedly deployed to Cagayan, Pangasinan, Bataan, Zambales , Batangas and Leyte.

Cruz said immigration authorities informed local police that the Vietnamese migrants do not travel in groups but in one or two or three persons per flight and their salaries range up to only P 5,000 per month.

Bataan was once the site of the United Nations sponsored Philippine Refugee Processing Center for Indo-Chinese refugees during  the administration of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.