Opening Pandora’s box
An immediate impact of the revelations of massive human trafficking may squander the country’s recently won Tier-1 ranking in the Global Trafficking in Persons report.
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Daily TribuneAn immediate impact of the revelations of massive human trafficking may squander the country’s recently won Tier-1 ranking in the Global Trafficking in Persons report.
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Exposing the recruitment racket where Filipinos are brought to Italy using bogus work permits, Daily Tribune's show Usapang OFW may have opened a can of worms in the country's skewed policy of relentlessly exporting labor.
In most countries, being a migrant worker is a career move, not a forced one to have a decent human existence.
The diaspora now consists of more than 10 million Filipinos who are promised by their elected leaders every time they are visited that the time is coming when opportunities at home will allow them to return.
Policies, however, continue to lean toward promoting overseas employment mainly due to the lure of $3 billion in remittances that shower the country like manna from heaven monthly.
Filipinos are preferred first-class workers due to their proficiency in English and their famed work ethic, resilience, and cheerful nature.
The demand for Filipino workers is exploited by those seeking a fast buck by recruiting them.
Those seeking jobs abroad are sucked dry before they can get a contract and then squeezed of their hard-earned money again at every opportunity by vultures, including the government.
Tales like the emergency repatriation fund being misused to buy overpriced sanitary napkins and similar kickback rackets abound.
Some 400 workers recounted to the online program how a Filipino employment consultancy firm based in Italy, Alpha Assistenza SRL, headed by Filipino co-CEOs Krizelle Respicio and Frederick Dutaro, victimized them through a "serial scamming" where they paid substantial sums only to be issued fake Nulla Ostas or work permits.
The labor trafficking the Filipino firm had been engaged in was revealed after several individuals surfaced to narrate the ordeal they experienced at the hands of Alpha Assistenza.
Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution to investigate the likely scam operation, but the probe's focus should be on the officials who are complicit with the crooks.
The victims recounted how the sting of bringing Filipinos to Italy with fake work permits could only be possible through the collusion of officials in the foreign diplomatic outposts.
An immediate impact of the revelations of massive human trafficking may squander the country's recently won Tier-1 ranking in the Global Trafficking in Persons report of the US State Department.
As a Tier-1 country, the Philippines is considered to have fully met the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking. The government was applauded for its continued demonstration of "serious and sustained efforts" to fight human smuggling and illegal labor deployment.
"These efforts included investigating more trafficking crimes, convicting more traffickers, amending its anti-trafficking law, increasing funding to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, and sentencing nearly all traffickers to significant prison terms," the US State Department said.
Being dropped from Tier-1 would have the effect of foreign governments tightening entry procedures for Filipino workers and the issuance of tighter rules on labor recruitment conducted by local agencies.
"Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remain significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year," the US report said.
The report continued: "Some officials in law enforcement, immigration agencies, and other government entities are allegedly complicit in trafficking or allow traffickers to operate with impunity. Some corrupt officials allegedly accept bribes to facilitate illegal departures for overseas workers, operate sex trafficking establishments, facilitate the production of fraudulent identity documents, or overlook illegal labor recruiters."
Italy could just be the tip of the iceberg of a possibly colossal syndicate tapping into the tens of millions of job-seeking Filipinos for a lucrative illegal recruitment ring.
