ZAMBOANGA CITY, Dec. 18 (PIA) – The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Overseas
Workers Welfares Administration (OWWA) in Zamboanga Peninsula continue to
intensify their campaign against illegal recruitment and trafficking in person
as ordered by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda D.
Baldoz.
In a
press conference during DOLE’s 79th Anniversary on December 7,
POEA-9 Officer in Charge Ms. Marietta Bellotindos said they will come up with
more information dissemination activities to help warn the public on illegal
recruitment.
“We have
a marching order from DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to intensify our campaign
against illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons. We are presently
conducting seminars in schools. Next year, we will go municipal and
provincial-level with all sectors in the community to really help inform the
public especially those in far-flung areas who are more vulnerable to illegal
recruitment,” Bellotindos said.
She
pointed that this will all materialize as there is already a budget for this
campaign.
Aside
from this, POEA is also conducting Pre-Employment Orientation Seminar (PEOS)
for Overseas Filipino Workers set to go out of the country.
“We
also invite our OFWs to our in-house Pre-Employment Orientation Seminar to
properly inform them on illegal recruitment where we include anti-illegal
recruitment modules”, she added.
Bellotindos
said there are easy ways to identify illegal recruiters.
“Legal
recruitments are conducted in the official business addresses of recruitment
agencies, or in our office. Anything outside these mentioned places like malls,
house-to-house schemes, and similar activities are deemed illegal. When we go
out, it’s in the form of jobs fair where we have all the concerned agencies in
one place,” she explained.
OWWA-9 Administrative
Head Angeles Engalla also added that part of their job is to make sure that
Filipinos leaving for abroad are safe and protected from illegal recruiters.
“Before
our OFWs leave, we give them Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS). We also advise
them to visit the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to know the veracity
of their job orders if these are really from jobsites,” Engalla said.