Illegal recruitment persists, says OWWA exec
The faces and phases of illegal recruitment are now on different levels reason that the top official of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) here is concerned.
Though the incidents of syndicated-illegal recruitment have significantly decreased, what persist the OWWA for Western Visayas disclosed are "friendly recruitments gone wrong."
In fact, the stories are almost the same from different Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) and their families victimized by an "irregularly-processed" work abroad.
Not much of late from "stranger-illegal recruiters," OWWA-6 officer-in-charge James Mendiola said with the recent victims of illegal recruitment actually referrals of family members or friends based abroad.
The scenario is almost always like this – an OFW domestic help will call a cousin or friend with a rosy picture of work conditions, say in Singapore. With a no-visa policy for Asian travelers, regular occurrence is a Filipino worker leaving the country in the guise of a holiday travel. Once in the foreign country, the relative or friend will then start the introduction to another prospective employer and employment immediately resumes minus legally-mandated work contracts.
In the event of abuse from employers or problems abroad, the OWWA will be notified and the discovery then begins on yet another irregularly-processed OFW.
Mendiola said similar occurrences have been noted with OFWs in Dubai, Hongkong and Singapore.
"The government has no ready and immediate protection for irregularly-processed OFWs since they left the county not as OFWs but as tourists… why risk your life and future when you can work abroad with protection from your government when you submit to regular processing? Please, do not let yourself get victimized. Work abroad legally," Mendiola said.
The OWWA for years now has been in the forefront of the government's advocacy against illegal recruitment and quality of life for every OFW and their families.
Mendiola for his part has since been instrumental in working for the immediate release of government aid and benefits to OFWs and their families in times of need.
"No problem with the regularly-processed OFW, our help is sure and certain since they are easily identified based on our records," he stressed.
Mendiola was guest in Saturday's "Kape Beynte-Beynte" program over Z100-FM (100.7 Mhz) hosted by veteran broadcaster Ompoy Pastrana and partner, Jun Lojero. Saturday's program had lawyer Romeo Gerochi and The New Today's Erly Garcia as panelists.