POEA vows crackdown on illegal recruiters operating abroad

FILIPINO nationals engaged in illegal recruitment and human traf reached and prosecuted by the long arm of Philippine law, warns the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief.

POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said there are ways by which the Philippine government can force illegal recruiters and human country to get back to Manila to face criminal charges.

“Even if offenders hide in remote parts of the world, the government can ask for their extradition to face charges in the country,” he said at the Global Online Conference of Overseas Filipinos held at PTTC in Pasay city by the Alliance of Overseas Filipinos ( AOFC) , a Hong Kong- based NGO. A video interview with Olalia about illegal can be viewed at the Facebook page of Alliance of Overseas Filipinos.

Stradcom Corp., Pagcor, PLDT and Maynilad sponsored the conference shown live and watched by more than 22,000 overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.

Jeffrey Valdez, vice consul at the Philippine embassy in Moscow, said that up to 90 to 95 percent of about 5,000 Filipino domestics are working illegally today in Russia since there are no work visas for foreign helpers in that country.

Olalia said illegal recruiters can be charged with criminal offenses for illegal recruitment, estafa for exorbitant charges on jobseekers and human trafficking. “If illegal recruiters and if warrants of arrest are issued against them, these arrest warrants can be served anywhere in the world and the government can ask for their extradition to Manila so they can face criminal charges,” he said.