Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:32:00 02/08/2009
Filed Under: Labor, Employment, Government, Migration
Most Read
Philippines—Vice President Noli de Castro on Saturday ordered an investigation into how the 22 offloaded Middle East-bound Filipino workers got spurious travel documents and almost succeeded in going to their respective destinations the other day.
Had it not been for the alert immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last Tuesday, he said, all 22 workers who were bound for Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain could have been languishing in jails there.
“This is really alarming because while the government is hellbent on curbing illegal recruitment and saving troubled OFWs abroad, we still have a lot of our countrymen being deployed overseas the wrong way,” said De Castro, who is presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers and head of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (TFAIR).
“There must be somebody or people responsible for the questionable documents of the offloaded workers and I intend to identify and make them answerable for what could have been a big mess for our OFWs,” he stressed.
Last week, De Castro said 21 other passengers were also offloaded from several flights for verification. At least 19 of them were found by the immigration bureau to be heading for Lebanon where the government has a standing travel ban.
“Again, I appeal to our countrymen to be mindful of the consequences of working abroad through illegal means,” he said. Cynthia D. Balana
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How indeed? Need we say more about our Immigration 'due' processing? OFWs here in Nigeria can attest to its veracity!
Comments:
Feb 9 (2 days ago)
Sila lang naman ang dahilan kung bakit nagiging illegal eh. Dahil sa este-Ban, nagiging illegal.
Ang tingnan nila yong puno'd dulo kung bakit merong "spurious documents". Ang mga recruitment agencies. Hindi ang OFWs. Nabiktima na ng recruiters, bayad pa sa immigration, hindi pa pinaalis. Sobra pa sa double jeopardy ang nangyari.
Sabagay, hindi kasi kelangan ng malalim na pag-iisip kung BAN. Mas ma-trabaho to investigate and monitor recruitment agencies. Besides, may mga kapit din kasi ang mga agencies na ito kaya BAN na lang. Mas madaling gawin eh. Sulat lang nga memo, konting ingles, pirma. Presto! Yon lang.
Chona Bollos
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