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Storm-hit Pinoys lured into non-existent jobs abroad


Tropical cyclones ‘Ondoy’ and ‘Pepeng’ might have broken the spirit of some Filipinos but it also proved to be a marketing strategy for illegal recruiters who lure unwitting, yet desperate, calamity victims into non-existent jobs overseas. Thus warned the Blas F. Ople foundation, a migrants’ advocacy group, on Wednesday after receiving reports that unscrupulous recruiters have targeted typhoon-hit victims in Luzon.

"We continue to receive information about bogus job offers to Malaysia, Maldives, Syria and Italy," said the foundation’s head, Susan Ople. Ople said international drug and human smuggling syndicates have taken advantage of the dire situation of Filipinos affected by Ondoy and Pepeng. The group met a victim in Naga City in Camarines Sur who was duped of P20,000 as processing fee for a supposed job in Italy. The victim told the group that a recruiter approached him and said an Italian employer wanted to hire 1,000 Filipinos “with or without experience." The recruiter urged them to pay for the processing of visas which would be handled by a private foundation. “Clearly, this is an outright hoax but there were people who fell for it," Ople said. Ople also received information about continuous recruitment activities by human smuggling rings in Malaysia “where victims are promised quick deployment on a salary deduction basis, but they end up as victims of forced labor and even prostitution abroad." "We call on the government to crack down on these syndicates that seek to exploit our people and gain from their miseries during these calamity-stricken times," Ople said. ‘Drug mules' She also said that drug syndicates are on the prowl for unwitting victims, mostly women, to transport prohibited substances out of the country. The Department of Foreign Affairs said around 500 Filipinos are in various jails around the world due to drug smuggling, with 210 of them detained in China alone. Philippine Consul General in Guangzhou Joselito Jimeno said 95 Filipinos are currently languishing in various jails in Chinese territories – four of whom are on death row. Asean countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam have only about 10 to 20 jailed nationals each. GMANews.TV asked Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ed Malaya about the latest illegal recruitment scheme and said that the DFA was aware of such modus operandi but “would have to check with the Migrant Worker’s Affairs Office to verify." A call for Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Jennifer Manalili was not answered as of posting time. Ople urged typhoon-stricken victims who are approached for overseas jobs to verify with the POEA through their website (www.poea.gov.ph) if the recruiters are legitimate or not or they can get in touch with the Ople Center via blasoplecenter@gmail.com or by calling up the Center's hotline: 833-5337. -GMANews.TV
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