DMW to start publishing names of illegal recruiters

Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople. INQUIRER.net file photo

Starting next week, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will publish the names of local and foreign recruitment agencies that have been blacklisted for the abuse suffered by their deployed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said the publication of blacklisted recruiters was part of the “stricter measures” the department will impose to protect OFWs, especially domestic workers. The other measures include: performance review of licensed recruitment agencies and their foreign counterparts based on deployment numbers and the capacity to monitor and act on welfare cases; issuance of country-specific employment contracts; ensuring only qualified and fully trained domestic workers are deployed abroad; mandatory viewing by all new employers of a video on OFW rights and welfare before employment contracts are signed; and creation of a white list of recruitment agencies and foreign recruitment agencies with good track record.

Ople said one of the challenges in safeguarding the welfare of OFWs is the trafficking of migrant workers from the country they were originally deployed to another country. She said OFWs in some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, are illegally recruited by Filipinos and other foreign agents to work in a so-called third country such as Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and even countries in Europe, namely, Poland, Hungary, and Romania.

“We also appeal to our kababayans to be more discerning about such bogus offers, and to report illegal recruiters and human traffickers to the DMW,” Ople said. —DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN