OFWs abroad face rising threat of trafficking

BY ATTY. DODO DULAY, Manila Times, Jan 2, 2018

A RISING threat faced by our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) abroad does not stem from their employer or jobsite but rather, from human trafficking syndicates targeting our expatriate workers overseas.

Always on the hunt for “greener pastures” in order to provide a better life for their families and loved ones in the Philippines, more and more migrant workers are falling victim to these syndicates, which take advantage of the gullibility of some of our OFWs.

But the modus operandi of trafficking gangs nowadays differ from that commonly portrayed in the movies. Migrant workers are not snatched from the street in broad daylight, drugged and transported to a third country. To the contrary, many OFWs victimized by these trafficking rings often go willingly and with eyes wide open.

Disguised as foreign placement agencies—many of whom operate legally in the country where they are located, especially where the recruitment business is not regulated by government—these syndicates offer bogus jobs in different destinations around the world.

Unfortunately, it is OFWs, particularly our domestic workers, who are the most vulnerable—and who often fall victim—to these deceptive enticements. Some workers even shell out as much as P275,000, oftentimes borrowed from loan sharks, for non-existent jobs in another country.

For instance, some Hong Kong-registered recruitment agencies reportedly promised Filipino domestics high-paying jobs in Moscow, Russia, and lured them into breaking their employment contracts in the former British colony while pocketing hefty agency fees along the way.

One domestic worker victimized by Hong Kong traffickers complained that the job in Russia paid only the same as the one she had in the former British colony and she was left with more debt. In her story to the South China Morning Post, the anonymous worker (a single mother of five children) narrates how she was lured to the former communist country after being promised a lucrative job there. Like thousands of other OFWs trafficked to Russia, her dream of a high-paying job never came to be.

What she found, instead, was a nightmare. There was no employer waiting for her in Russia so she was forced to fall in line to find a job. To aggravate matters, her recruitment agency still forced her to fork over HK$43,000 (with a 12 percent interest to boot) for a non-existent job.

Having entered the country on a fake visa, she had no choice but to endure slave-like conditions in Russia. She first stayed in a cramped boarding house arranged by her recruiter, sleeping on the floor in one room with as many as 20 other trafficking victims. Although she eventually found a Russian employer, her biggest fear was being caught by the police and deported back to the Philippines because she still had debts to pay and children to support.

I know not a few people think of this crooked scheme as a mere case of illegal recruitment. It is not. In fact, it’s a classic example of human trafficking based on the widely and internationally accepted definition.

According to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, known as the Palermo Protocols, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000, human trafficking also covers “the recruitment…of persons…by means of fraud, of deception…to achieve the consent of a person…for the purpose of exploitation.”

What is quite alarming is that some of these recruiters-cum traffickers—in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and other countries where there is a large population of migrant workers—are themselves foreigners but have Filipino partners or Filipino wives who are actively involved in enlisting OFWs in this job scam.

Needless to say, the work of these recruiters-cum-traffickers has been made easier with the rise of social media. Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Viber have given illegal recruiters the venue to advertise tempting but fictional job opportunities in Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Dubai and Brazil to vulnerable Filipino domestic workers.

The increasing number of trafficking cases has prompted the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) to release an advisory warning OFWs currently employed overseas to be more careful about accepting offers of employment in another country.

Under Philippine law, it is illegal to recruit workers through a third country, if neither the recruiter nor the employer has proper authorization from the government. This is precisely why POEA has laid down several requirements and processes aimed at ensuring that our migrant workers are protected. First and foremost is that OFWs should have the appropriate work permit or visa or employment contract approved by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and processed by the POEA before leaving for work abroad.

True, our deployment system and procedures may not be perfect and are often seen as mired in bureaucratic red tape but it’s a tried-and-tested formula that has, for decades, given our OFWs ample protection and sufficient remedies while working abroad. Our OFWs should be reminded that the employment contract, work permit and work visa requirements ensure that they are recruited and deployed for legitimate jobs with legitimate employers.

Outside our country’s borders, however, the government is pretty much powerless to stop, let alone regulate or police, the activities of foreign recruitment agencies. Our migrant workers overseas therefore ought to be more discerning of tempting and attractive job offers in a third country, especially those promoted through social networks. As they say, not all that glitters is gold.

A peaceful and bountiful New Year to all our readers!