A timely warning
AWARE of the lack of high-paying jobs in the Philippines, more and more Filipinos, many of them women, prefer to seek employment in the United States and other nations.
And even professionals, like teachers, medical doctors, accountants, nurses, engineers, midwives and office workers, are willing sell their lands and try their luck overseas.
But the problem is the presence of sweet-talking and highly-enterprising illegal job recruiters and scammers not only in metropolis but throughout this impoverished nation.
Sometimes, victims of illegal recruiters and scammers, many of them from the rural areas, find themselves languishing in foreign jails or ending as hospitality girls in clubs.
That’s why we commend concerned government offices, like the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), for helping distressed and problematic Filipinos abroad.
Last Saturday, eight Filipinos deceived into working for an online scamming and catfishing (creating fake identity) syndicate in Cambodia were repatriated to the country.
Reports reaching Manila said the repatriated Pinoy workers were rescued by the Cambodian National Police in the provinces of Oddsar Meanchey and Kampot.
Without doubt, human trafficking in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations is a serious regional issue.
But it is heartening to know that the government is exerting efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of Filipinos wherever they are, said DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega.
Not only that. The Philippines, through concerned agencies, is determined to continue working in unison with other ASEAN member-states in addressing human trafficking.
It’s a move in the right direction.
