DoLE to OFWs: ‘Don’t be drug couriers’

Concerned about reports of increasing number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) being used as drug couriers, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday issued an urgent warning to prospective OFWs and those already deployed abroad to be wary of glib-tongued individuals luring OFWs in the drug trade.

“However high the rewards in terms of monetary compensation being offered by these individuals, it is not worth it to be involved in the drug courier business,” Baldoz stressed.

“Avoid them as you do a plague,” she warned.

The labor and employment chief said the Department is closely working with relevant government agencies dealing with this drug menace as many OFWs, mostly women, have been victimized, some of them unknowingly falling prey to notorious members of international drug trafficking syndicates.

Baldoz said it is very unfortunate that some of OFWs fall victims to these drug rings that have infiltrated the Philippines with their illegal operations.

She said that OFWs should always be wary of people offering large sums of money for bringing a small bag, box, or any container in or out of the country as a favor.

“Ignorance of what is contained in your checked-in luggage in any port of destination does not exempt you from prosecution and arrest if they find out that these contain contraband drugs or illegal items,” Baldoz said.

Citing a report of the US Embassy in Manila, Baldoz said there is an increase in the recruitment of OFWs to smuggle cocaine and heroin in and out of the country.

The recruited OFW drug couriers “transport or smuggle” the illegal drugs to China, Malaysia, and Vietnam. A number of these drug couriers have been arrested and are now facing stiff penalties, including the death sentence.

“The challenge for the government to address this problem is just too awesome. An inter-agency cooperation in the highest levels is urgently needed to ultimately put an end to these menace,” Baldoz said.

She ordered the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration OWWA), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and all Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) to include in their orientation seminars a strict warning to OFWs against being used as drug couriers. PNA