GDN:Runaway Filipinos ‘illegal workers’

By EUNICE del ROSARIO
Published: 2nd October 2006

MOST Filipino workers who run away from their employers in Bahrain have been recruited illegally, it was revealed yesterday.

Many paid large fees to manpower agencies for tourist visas to get here, but were then left to fend for themselves upon arrival, said Philippine Embassy labour attaché Alejandro Santos.

A nation-wide campaign has now been launched in the Philippines to warn people about the pitfalls of illegal recruitment.

It is also expected that all Filipinos heading to Bahrain on tourist visas will soon be screened before being allowed to fly here.

By EUNICE del ROSARIO
Published: 2nd October 2006

MOST Filipino workers who run away from their employers in Bahrain have been recruited illegally, it was revealed yesterday.

Many paid large fees to manpower agencies for tourist visas to get here, but were then left to fend for themselves upon arrival, said Philippine Embassy labour attaché Alejandro Santos.

A nation-wide campaign has now been launched in the Philippines to warn people about the pitfalls of illegal recruitment.

It is also expected that all Filipinos heading to Bahrain on tourist visas will soon be screened before being allowed to fly here.

The aim is to prevent the exploitation of Filipinos abroad and tighter migration controls are due to be introduced along with a major media campaign in the Philippines.

Posters and brochures about the dangers of illegal recruitment are now being distributed in all cities, towns and villages throughout the Philippines.

Television and radio advertisements are also being aired, as well as newspaper and magazine and the installation of electronic billboards.

The campaign has been launched by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Philippine Embassy officials acknowledge the problem of illegal recruitment has to be tackled at home as well as abroad.

“Although we can say there is a problem with illegal recruitment here in Bahrain, there is definitely a problem in the Philippines,” said Mr Santos.

“Hopefully, in the very near future, those travelling to Bahrain on tourist visas from the Philippines will be scrutinised first before being allowed to fly.

“Immigration officials must be aware of the problem.

“Unless the illegal activities are put to a complete halt, we can expect more employers taking advantage of our workers by recruiting them illegally, providing them with little or no salaries and exposing them to appalling abuse.”

Only about 25 manpower agencies in Bahrain are recognised by the Philippine Embassy as legal recruiters of Filipino workers, it was confirmed yesterday.

Up to 60 recruitment offices and individual employers have been placed on a permanent blacklist so far by the embassy for their alleged continuous abuse of Filipino employees.

Mr Santos told the GDN that offices and individual employers were placed on the ban list as a result of studies completed by the embassy since May last year.

“Based on our reports of Filipino workers running away from their employers, we have found out that the majority of them have been illegally recruited from the Philippines,” said Mr Santos.

“Studying all reports of workers who have sought our assistance from May last year, we have gathered the 60 names and offices/establishments that have illegally recruited Filipinos.

“This include bringing workers here on tourist visas and leaving them to find work as soon as they arrive here.”

The Bahrain Recruiters Society (BRS), whose membership list includes “about” 64 manpower agencies, has repeatedly criticised embassies for drawing up blacklists, saying the lists were not “legally binding” in this country.

Other than the Philippine Embassy, the Indian Embassy has about 49 manpower agencies on its blacklist.

Society president Ali Alshoala had said that as long as recruitment agencies in Bahrain had valid licences, they could continue hiring workers from abroad.

He added that there were about 15 recruitment agencies that are not members of the society.

However, Mr Santos said the embassies were just following orders from their respective governments.

“What we want is for employers in Bahrain to be guaranteed that they are going to get qualified workers and they can only have that guarantee if they bring their staff from accredited agencies,” he said.

“Employers are welcome to visit us here at the embassy for any queries and we will be more than happy to guide them to which agency they can go to for workers.”

He said that one of the biggest problems employers face is the hiring of unqualified housemaids.

“Many unaccredited agencies bring in housemaids from remote villages, who are not trained to do the job,” he said.

“It is always better to deal with agencies that are known to bring in trained and qualified workers.”

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