Manila, Jun 10 (IANS): The Philippines' Bureau of Immigration (BI) has tightened the screening of Filipinos travelling to Japan to curb human trafficking.

In a recent memorandum published on Thursday, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente ordered immigration inspectors in exit ports to be extra cautious in clearing Japan-bound Filipinos.

Morente directed the BI personnel to carefully scrutinise the travel documents of departing Filipinos with visas for the intra-company transferee, short-term visitor, student, and engineer specialist in humanities and international services, Xinhua news agency reported.

The order came in the wake of reports that unscrupulous recruiters were using these visas to circumvent government rules on the documentation and deployment of Filipino workers to Japan.

The Immigration officer said the recruiters are using the scheme to make it appear that the purpose of the Filipino travellers is exempt from securing an overseas employment certificate. Using this visa type, the passengers declare that they are travelling and staying in Japan for only a brief period, although their actual intention is to work there.

"This emerging trend exposes these travellers to the dangers of trafficking in persons and illegal recruitment, which the BI is mandated to prevent," Morente added.