Human trafficking via Tawi-Tawi foiled
COTABATO CITY—The combined effort of several government agencies in a span of over two months foiled the potential trafficking of at least 105 people through the island province of Tawi-Tawi, the country’s southern tip and doorstep to neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia.
According to Raissa Jajurie, head of the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, these people have been rescued by the government from June 28 to Sept. 9, as they were on their way to cross the country’s borders without necessary documents, making them vulnerable to exploitation in their countries of destination where they were planning to work.
Of the total victims, 58 or more than half were rescued by the Tawi-Tawi police this month in a joint operation with MSSD’s Tawi-Tawi provincial office, the Bongao Municipal Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking (Miacat), the Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Bureau of Investigation.
The most recent operation was on Sept. 9, involving five women who flew into Bongao from Metro Manila a day earlier on the promise that someone would meet them at the airport. When nobody came, the women asked assistance from the local tourism office on where they could stay for the night.
There, they told the local tourism office that they were actually offered a free tour and job that would earn P50,000 for each of them. The women said they were recruited online via Telegram, a messaging app.
The 1st Special Operations Unit of the police maritime group fetched the women from an apartment in Barangay Tubig Boh where they were staying, and turned them over to MSSD personnel.
Also rescued on Sept. 5 were 27 women who said they were bound for Thailand and Malaysia to take on job offers as customer service representatives and entertainers, said Leeshabel Adil, head of the MSSD satellite office in Zamboanga City.
On Sept 7, a total of 24 potential victims of human trafficking were also found aboard a commercial ferry bound for Sabah, the Tawi-Tawi police said.
All of the 24 victims came from Metro Manila and provinces in Luzon and were promised jobs in Malaysia and Cambodia.
Adil said three suspected illegal recruiters were arrested and now in police custody.
On Sept. 2, two women in their 20s were rescued in Mapun, an island town of Tawi-Tawi closest to Sabah. They were from Bataraza town in Palawan.
Illegal recruitment
On Aug. 30, a total of 22 people, including minors, were discovered to be en route to Malaysia via Bongao port without the necessary travel papers.
On June 28, MSSD and the Bongao Miacat rescued 25 people from a boat docked at the town’s port while preparing to leave for Sabah.
MSSD provided the victims with psychosocial support to help them recover from the trauma of being misled by illegal recruiters.
In Cagayan de Oro City, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is investigating officials of a local government in Misamis Oriental province for possible complicity in the illegal recruitment of seasonal workers for South Korea.
Emmanuel Toledo, the DMW regional director in Northern Mindanao, disclosed that the local government, which he declined to identify, set up an office dedicated to recruiting workers who were charged P60,000 each. A local official, he said, was among those who provided false assurances to the recruited workers.
Toledo said they gathered these accounts from among the 43 people who fell victim to the scheme. He said many of those illegally recruited had told DMW personnel that their families had incurred debts and even sold farm animals just to meet the brokers’ demand.
The DMW, Toledo said, is not allowing recruitment agencies to demand such fees from potential overseas workers as the practice normally leads to abuse.
With the investigation still ongoing, the DMW provided free legal assistance to the victims and promised to help them process their overseas employment.
“We will proceed with their intention to be deployed in South Korea,” said Migrant Workers Undersecretary Bernard Olalia. —WITH A REPORT FROM SHAYNE ACOBO
