THE CITY Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) will ramp up the drive against illegal recruitment and trafficking by training service providers and barangay officials.
Rosevic Joey Jayme, OFW Families Welfare and Crisis Center coordinator, said they need to strengthen the campaign at the barangay level to avoid encountering the same issues repeatedly.
“The training will enhance community awareness among barangay officials, volunteers, and providers regarding the current welfare and employment services and involve them in monitoring unlawful recruiting and human trafficking activities,” Jayme said during an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio.
The Local Committee Against Trafficking in Persons and Violence Against Women and Children (LCAT-VAWC) will conduct awareness training for Anti-Illegal Recruitment and Trafficking in Persons (AIRTIP) from Nov. 13-14 and airport-based service providers on Nov. 15.
The training will include a discussion on the risks of overseas job referrals, outside the registered names on the website of the Department of Migrant Workers.
Jayme added the public must be vigilant against illegal recruitment, including fake overseas job postings, shared on social media platforms.
She said schemes used by illegal recruiters include escort services, tourist–worker schemes, and assumed identity.
Escort services are when undocumented workers are escorted at the airport or any international exit to evade checkpoints set to check on workers’ documents to allow entry into various countries.
On the other hand, a tourist–worker scheme refers to a system where applicants are sent supposedly as tourists but end up as workers abroad.
Meanwhile, the assumed identity scheme is where workers, particularly minors, are deployed abroad with fake documents.
Other schemes include direct hiring, trainee worker scheme, backdoor work scheme, tie-up system, visa assistance/consultancy scheme, and blind ads scheme.
“Direct hiring is not advisable for OFW since there is no agency that the family can reach in case of emergency,” she said.
In the event that they are directly hired, the OFW can go to the Philippine embassy for documentation.
She, however, said there are no documented instances of unlawful trafficking or recruitment in the city for 2024.
Jayme added the training will also discuss avenues where the OFW or their families can ask for assistance, including the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking help desk at the airport to assist Davaoeños who encounter illegal recruitment and trafficking.
Families of OFWs who experience such schemes may also visit the CSWDO office from Monday to Friday or send a message to their Facebook page OFW Families Welfare and Crisis Center or OFW Center Davao.
File Photo by Bing Gonzales
