Senator Raffy Tulfo has slammed the use of the country’s backdoor exit to transport illegally recruited overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for human trafficking activities.

“In the midst of studying this problem on port security, a group of OFWs approached my office, just a few days ago, and told us their story of how they were illegally recruited and lured into this human trafficking scheme through a backdoor pass from the Philippines, to Malaysia, to Thailand, and eventually to Europe,” Tulfo said in his privilege speech on Thursday during a plenary session.

Tulfo, speaking mostly in Filipino, also noted that the backdoor route was the same escape option used by dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo and her associates to flee the Philippines.

“While transportation is a means to move people and things, and is a crucial tool in commerce, it is also utilized by criminals, to execute their deeds, to smuggle goods, to escape the hands of justice, and for human trafficking,” he said.

The senator lamented the painful stories of illegal OFWs who were promised to get high-paying jobs but ended up working for criminal syndicates.

These OFWs, according to Tulfo, were lured by illegal recruiters to work in Europe in exchange for a P400,000 placement fee but went an unusual exit from the Philippines.

“It was painful to hear their stories knowing that they were fooled into paying a big amount to fulfill their dreams of working in Europe, only to end up almost losing their lives, getting sexually harassed, and drowning in debt without any source of income,” he said.

Tulfo narrated such unfortunate stories started in October last year when a group of aspiring OFWs found an advertisement on Facebook —where recruits were being promised employment in Europe in just three to four months of processing.

They were required to pay various fees and expenses totaling P400,000.

According to Tulfo, OFWs earlier doubted the recruitment process but recruiters handling them insisted that they had connections with the Department of Migrant Workers and that the employment application to Europe was legally processed.

"But what happened to them was like something out of a movie: it’s pitiful, infuriating, and disturbing," he stressed.

Backdoor journey

“Their journey started on August 6. They flew from Manila to Zamboanga. On August 7, they flew from Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi,” Tulfo recounted. “Early on August 8, their trip continued by boat,” he added.

“At this point, one of the female OFWs was touched inappropriately by the boatman,” Tulfo lamented. He explained that the victim did not resist the abuse out of fear of being thrown into the sea.

On the evening of 8 August, the group of OFWs arrived in Semporna, Sabah, where they were picked up by two cars and transported to Kota Kinabalu, and then transferred to Kuala Lumpur and Changlun. They stayed in Malaysia until 28 August. The following day, they traveled to an area near the Thailand border.

They stayed and underwent immigration processing in Thailand until they went to Bangkok on 31 August. From Bangkok, the OFW group flew to Europe.

“They called their recruiter, who gave them various excuses and even tried to extract more money to supposedly resolve the problem,” Tulfo narrated. “Eventually, the group contacted their families because their recruiter had started threatening them, claiming that if they did not provide money, they would face trouble because their abandoned luggage contained drugs,” he continued.

Tulfo reported that the incident was brought to his office and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), leading to their rescue. He then raised the issue with the Senate Committee on Labor and the Committee on Justice and Human Rights for investigation.