Illegal recruiters again

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor ERIC T. LORETIZO Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Here we go again. The Department of Foreign Affairs has issued a warning to Filipino jobseekers against recruiters who may dupe them with promises of work in Italy or France by procuring for them passports and visas that have been forged.

As the DFA has stated it, avoidance of such a situation could so easily be made by the simple act of inquiring from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration about the credentials of the recruiting agency or the recruiter before agreeing to have these handle their applications and the processing of requirements for traveling and working abroad.

We already have thousands of Filipinos who found out in the most tragic ways that they had not only been divested of money they had worked for, or even borrowed at atrocious interest rates just to acquire the necessary documents and paperwork for leaving, but also lost their freedom. Some of them, the luckier ones, only got deported or sent home from the country of destination upon discovery of their fake papers. Others, not so lucky, found themselves facing charges in court, and worse, detained or even sentenced to prison terms.

This had happened to the three Filipinos who were the latest victims of unscrupulous recruiters. The Philippine Consul General in Hongkong reported that the three have been sentenced to nine months imprisonment, and meted fines of as much as $19,000. And they were just passing through Hongkong, on their way to Rome, supposed to be their destination.

When the government imposed a ban on working in Iraq, hundreds of Filipinos were reported to have sneaked into that country to take advantage of the high pay being offered because of the scarcity of labor. While workers in Lebanon were being repatriated, others were defying the ban, and also smuggling themselves there. Then when they get into trouble, they find out that the government cannot easily help them because of their status. Let us hope the latest warning from the DFA will not fall on deaf and defiant ears.*