THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) was commended by Philippine embassy officials in Bahrain for the sharp decline in the number of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.

The said achievement was credited to the agency’s intensified drive against human trafficking and the escort racket at the airports, according to a letter to BI Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. written by  Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain Corazon Yap-Bahjin, who  congratulated the bureau for a “job well done” in curtailing the departure for Bahrain of Filipino would-be victims of human traffickers and illegal recruiters as well.

As a result of the BI’s tight screening of departing Filipino travelers, only seven undocumented Filipino workers remained at the embassy’s shelter for distressed and stranded OFWs as of January 24, the letter stated.

The ambassador also recalled that in previous years, undocumented OFWs would usually account for more than 70 percent of Filipinos staying at the Philippine Labor Office of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (PLO-OWWA) in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

It will be recalled that the BI launched an intensified campaign against human trafficking by adopting stricter rules in screening Filipinos bound for countries that are known favored destinations of OFWs, including the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, among others.

This resulted in thousands of undocumented OFWs and human trafficking victims being barred from leaving the country for failure to present the required overseas employment certificates.