Duterte said because of the the abuses suffered by some Filipina OFWs, they commit suicide. #illegalrecruitment #slavery

The President also talked about slavery perpetrated by some Arab countries where many Filipinas, even the young ones, have been victimized. (PCOO)

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to intensify efforts to save Filipinos especially the youth victimized by illegal recruiters.

The Chief Executive made the remark during the National Awarding Ceremony of the 2018 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities held at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang, where he was the guest of honor and speaker.

At the same time, Duterte ordered DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista, a former Army general, to make the necessary steps to go after illegal recruiters and bring them to justice.

“I used the word general because I am sending him a message now that you have to do more. Since you are a military man then I hope you can come up with a structure — a bigger one to go after itong recruitment. And so goes for the Department of Labor and everybody,” the President said during his speech.

“My orders are really to get them. You should know where to fish for them. And return them to the water because they are fish,” he added.

In his speech, the President also talked about slavery perpetrated by some Arab countries where many Filipinas, even the young ones, have been victimized.

He said this is very true in the case of three Filipinas whose fathers and mothers went to their house in Davao City when he was still a mayor asking for help after their daughters were recruited in the Middle East in hopes of earning good money there. But instead they were sold and became slaves.

The President said despite efforts to locate the three, this all went futile. He added that the three has not yet been found.

“You know, what I’m talking is slavery. And to think that there are three Filipinas aged 16, 17 — dalawang 17, isang 16 — went there, falsified document, falsified birth certificate tapos hindi na alam kung saan (we don’t know where they are),” the President said.

“And not all, I am not talking of Muslims. Let me be very clear. I’m talking about some of the Arab practices and their culture. Ngayon, sa hanap-hanap ko, I was talking to a military man and he said: You might want to put on notice and tell it to your countrymen that slavery is still allowed here. And you know a slave is a slave.”

The President said there are some Arab tribes who force some of the Filipinas whom they hired as maids to work to death.

“And there are some Arab tribes there that — ‘yung naririnig ninyo (you were heard). That they work to death everyday, that hindi naman lahat — I said some but not all. I cannot make any sweeping statement because there are good Arabs also, educated ones,” the President said.

“Alam mo pagka slave ka, maglinis ka ng bahay. Ang problema doon, pagkatapos ng linis ng bahay ng amo mo, you go to another house to clean the house of a daughter-in-law. And then another daughter- or son-in-law. And so you hear that many stories coming out that they have only four or five or six na — swerte na ‘yan six. On the average, three. And the food is the leftovers of the family.”

“Kaya sinabi niya, might also be good for you to know that there are some Arab tribes who practiced this queer thing — that if you are a slave or if you are paid to do the work, you are a slave and sexual abuse is always part of the territory. It could — every day… ,” he added.

He said because of the the abuses suffered by some Filipina OFWs, they commit suicide.

“And that’s the reason why some of our countrymen just jump out of the window. The highest rate of foreign works nagsu-suicide. They cannot just endure, maybe the human degradation,” the President said.