'Frequent offloading of OFWs driving away foreign employers'

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) indiscriminate offloading of suspected undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) is driving away foreign employers, the recruitment industry warned yesterday.

Recruitment leaders said a number of foreign employers are now turning to other nationalities due to many instances wherein newly hired OFWs were unable to arrive at their work sites on time.

Recruitment consultant Manny Geslani said that just recently, the Sultan of Johore had complained that the Filipino worker they hired was offloaded and prevented from boarding her flight.

“This very embarrassing incident was reported by Malaysia-based labor officer Rey Sto. Domingo who was allegedly berated by the Sultan’s wife for the failure of her domestic worker to return due to unjustified offloading,” Geslani said.

Recruitment agencies alleged that Middle East-bound household service workers even with valid Overseas Employment Certificates have been offloaded for flimsy reasons.

Early this year, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reestablished the Labor and Assistance Center (LAC) to validate all travel documents of OFWs who were processed by the POEA.

With the system, recruiters said there is no more valid reason for the BI to withhold the departure of OFWs, except to harass or extort money.

Recruiters claimed that unscrupulous BI agents are collecting between P30,000 to P50,000 from OFWs who are leaving for Afghanistan or other countries with deployment ban.

Although the ban in Afghanistan has been partially lifted, recruiters claim that some BI agents still continue to extort money from departing workers.

“The rampant offloading of legitimate tourists has reached alarming proportions to the point that Vice President Jejomar Binay has asked Immigration chief Gen. Ricardo David to explain the procedures that the BI is using to offload thousands of passengers every month, causing economic losses for the passengers since they have to pay the travel tax of P1,620 and airport fees of P750 every time they leave for their destinations,” recruiters said.

Meanwhile, a high ranking lawyer from the BI was arrested last Thursday by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for allegedly extorting money from an overstaying Indian national.

Marcelino Tolentino, senior legal officer of BI, is reportedly now on bail but is still under further investigation by the NBI. David has promised immediate action on the case of the lawyer and has asked immigration officials to conduct internal inquiries on his possible involvement in human smuggling and trafficking activities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is also expected to file administrative sanctions against the lawyer. The BI is an attached agency of the DOJ.

The DOJ has been in the forefront of an all out and re-intensified campaign against human trafficking and human smuggling which is listed as a top priority concern of the Aquino administration.