110 OFWs get gov't help, thanks to global hotline

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – At least 110 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who had fallen victim to either illegal recruitment or human trafficking have been flown back home, thanks to the new 1343 global hotline of the Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO).       

CFO migrant services officer Eumarlo Tolosa said the 110 OFWs were mostly victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment who sought government help by dialing the hotline (632) 1343.       

Other OFWs were assisted after their relatives in the Philippines sought help by dialing (02) 1343.     

“It’s a 24/7 worldwide action line,” said Tolosa whose team has been conducting an information drive on the project in various Central Luzon provinces.       

Since the hotline was established last March, Tolosa said the CFO has received 5,471 calls and 55 of the worthy cases were acted upon, leading to the repatriation of the 110 OFWs.

“The system works like the dial 117 of the police but ours covers trafficking and illegal recruitment cases. In Metro Manila, local complainants need not dial the area code 02,” he said.    

Of the 55 cases acted upon, Tolosa said 32 were cases of illegal recruitment, 13 of human trafficking, and one of mail-order bride. There were other nine cases of assorted kinds.    

The National Capital Region and Central Luzon, according to CFO records, accounted for the most number of cases, with 33 and 12 cases, respectively.     

Illegal recruitment topped the list of most reported cases at 41 percent, followed by sexual exploitation at 13 percent.      

CFO data also show that most of the complaint calls were from Middle East countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as well as Asia such as South Korea and Japan.    

Tolosa said the CFO has been conducting a nationwide awareness campaign through its annual community education program dubbed “Handa ka na bang mag-abroad?” to increase the consciousness of the public on migration problems such as documentation fraud and intermarriages.     

Tolosa, together with fellow migrant officers Lance Alexander Velasco and Rosario Tuaño, has been holding such campaigns in various towns in Central Luzon. Last year, the education program covered 50 areas in 17 provinces nationwide.