MANILA, Philippines — Illegal recruitment for a cryptocurrency syndicate in Cambodia could have been stopped by more stringent immigration checks and by verification by Philippine government agencies in their destination country.
One victim of the fake job recruitment said the Chinese syndicate behind it was able to recruit and deploy workers illegally because of a contact at the Bureau of Immigration. "Ron", who testified at the Senate on Wednesday, said they were able to get official documents, such as the Overseas Employment Certificate, from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration easily.
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"Rachel specifically said they hand out bribes to an immigration officer so that the Filipino could be deployed without issue, but she did not mention the names of their contact in the immigration office," Ron also said, referring to Rachel Almendra Luna, who allegedly acted as a human resources officer in the scheme while in Cambodia.
Ron said Luna also had contacts in Clark International Airport in Pampanga, from where recruits would be flown to Sabah, Malaysia through Zamboanga City.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who exposed the fake jobs scheme last November, has called for an overhaul of the BI to clean up its ranks.
"With the volume of trafficked Filipinos still in Cambodia and Myanmar, the BI, as our last line of defense against trafficking, clearly has some shaping up to do. The BI has to regroup and repair the entirety of their agency," Hontiveros said.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco promised the bureau would work with other agencies to investigate personnel for links to the syndicate. "The fight against trafficking is a huge undertaking, and we have long been raising that this should be tackled using a whole-of-government approach," he said.
"Trafficking in human beings violates the basic rights of victims, hence, it should be equated as a crime against humanity," Sen. Raffy Tulfo said, adding all perpetrators should be held to account.
More Migrant Workers Offices to be put up
Meanwhile, eyes are also on the Department of Migrant Workers, which said they would put up four more Migrant Workers Offices in countries without one.
Migrant Workers Offices, which were previously called the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, will be in charge of ensuring the safety and welfare of OFWs deployed in their host countries. The offices can also verify if migrant workers are at the jobs they were recruited into and deployed to.
"We are just working out the location, the offices, the personnel, and we're now looking for a labor attaches that will be deployed to form the team," POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said they will be working with the POEA to secure permits to establish the offices and that these could be set up by the end of the first quarter.
Since last September, the DFA has helped repatriate over 200 human trafficking victims. This includes 39 repatriated from Cambodia, 109 from Laos, 58 from Myanmar, and one from Thailand.