DAVAO CITY – First District Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte has renewed his call for the urgent passage of a measure that aims to classify two or more persons engaged in illegal recruitment as a syndicate, which is punishable with life imprisonment under the law.

He said the measure, as outlined under House Bill 8360, would serve as a deterrent to persons resorting to predatory practices to scam overseas Filipino workers.

"By amending RA 8042, we would be strengthening the law against these predators who, with as few as two conspirators, can commit massive illegal recruitment using technology and the internet," he added.

The current law, Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, defines illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate as an act of three or more persons and deemed an act of economic sabotage punishable with life imprisonment and a fine ranging from PHP500,000 to PHP1 million.

Under this bill filed by Duterte with Benguet Rep. Eric Yap and ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Edvic Yap, two persons working together in an illegal recruitment scam shall constitute a syndicate.

The same penalties would be imposed against at least two conspirators involved in illegal recruitment scams once HB 8360 is passed into law.

Duterte pointed out that illegal recruiters have continued to conceive of new schemes to dupe OFWs, as shown by recent cases uncovered by the Department of Migrant Workers of persons hiding behind so-called immigration consultancy firms to deceive jobseekers into paying them exorbitant fees.

Supposedly, they will process their overseas work visas.

The DMW recently shut down the operations of 11 Seas Immigrations Services in Pasay City after finding out that the consultancy firm charged excessive processing fees and illegally recruited Filipinos looking for work in Poland. The DMW did not accredit the company to recruit workers.

Last week, the Philippine Consulate in Milan also warned OFWs seeking employment in Italy not to fall for the 'decreto flussi recruitment' scam after it uncovered the illegal operations of another immigration consultancy firm–Alpha Assistenza–which was able to defraud at least 200 Filipinos of as much as 3,000 euros each.

According to the Consulate, some individuals and agencies have begun to charge "reservation fees" ranging from 500 to 5,000 euros to process non-existent work visas soon after Italy unveiled their decreto flussi program, which allows the hiring of as many as 452,000 foreign workers in the next three years.