Writing on the wall, the heads-up from the Philippine Embassy in the United Arab Emirates against fake job offers and illegal recruiters offering “jobs” in one of the most liberal countries in the Gulf.
We take note that only five months earlier, some 158 Filipino migrant workers were repatriated from the Arabic-speaking Emirates, many of whom were victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking.
The number brought to more than 4,800 those who have been brought back home since January 2019, many of the OFWs found to have left the Philippines through short-term visas and were promised work by illegal recruiters.
This is a saga in the dumps, as it were, with our countrymen easily lured into a most likely high paying job overseas which they cannot find in their homeland, the risks notwithstanding.
Many of these repatriates were found to have “overworked, suffered maltreatment, and experienced contract violations by their employer.”
The government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, has previously warned Filipinos against using tourist visas to secure work overseas, underlining an axiom that leaving for work without proper employment documents can leave OFWs susceptible to abuse and exploitation.
There have been reports of illegal recruitment schemes where recruiters use a country in the Middle East where visas are not required for Filipinos as “jump-off points” to send OFWs to banned destinations.
Sometime back, Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola, stressed: “The Philippine government strongly condemns the abuses being experienced by our OFWs in the hands of their recruiters or employers. (We) will continue to partner with other member agencies of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to prevent and suppress trafficking.”
But for those who need a high paying job not available to them at home, that is easier heard than followed.
And we have a double take on their eagerness to leave: obviously to better their lifestyle on the home front.
But the Philippine Embassy's Facebook post reiterates the red flag following claims in social media platforms by unidentified people it is easy to get a job as a household worker in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
Cul-de-sac: heed the Embassy's admonition, or you might end up in submerging tears while illegal recruiters strike it rich.