APD | Philippines government warns VS human trafficking schemes

By APD writer Melo M. Acuña

MANILA, Apr.6(APD) -- Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) called on Filipinas to be cautious of persons, alleged manpower or recruitment agencies that carry out their operations using social media including Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber offering jobs in Dubai or in any other place. 

The government agency reiterated its warning as they monitored human trafficking cases by the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad.

It was learned a trafficking victim at Basra Prison in Iraq for the last three months was finally released for deportation last Wednesday, April 3,2019 while two others were secured by the Embassy.  Ten others have remained in the Embassy since January this year.

In their statements, they said they were brought from Dubai to Iraq from July 4 to December 22,2018.  Last year, the Embassy handled 17 human trafficking cases.

The Philippine Embassy in Iraq learned human trafficking syndicat4es lured the victims through the social media by offering to pay for the cost of their travel to Dubai where high-paying jobs are supposed to be waiting for them.

The victims enter Dubai as tourists and are made to work without pay as part of their “training.”

Once their visas near expiration, the victims are told to accept jobs in Iraq or pay the syndicates US$3,000, the amount spent for their deployment.  They are then trafficked through Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and then smuggled to either Baghdad or Basra.

Because their visas from Erbil will not be valid outside of the Kurdistan Region, the victims are transferred from one car to another for at least five times to avoid inspection at several security checkpoints.

The victims may be molested or maltreated enroute to Baghdad or Basra while other unfortunate ones may suffer more maltreatment even when they already been employed.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the deployment ban in Iraq still holds.  Filipinos who enter Iraq sans visas may face stiff imprisonment terms aside from hefty penalties.  The agency called on Filipinos to check with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration if the agency complies with basic government requirements as well as pre-departure procedures by the Bureau of Immigration to prevent human trafficking activities and even trafficking of internal organs.

There were 2,191 irregular or undocumented migrants in Iraq as of December 31,2017 according to figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs.  

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)