By Alec Go
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Monday, March 13, said it is intensifying its efforts to combat human trafficking amid reported cryptocurrency-related trafficking cases.
In a March 13 meeting of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) in Malacañang, DMW Secretary Susan Ople said they have been assisting victims of cryptocurrency syndicates in the filing of human trafficking cases.
“Eleven cases of trafficking-in-persons have already been filed with four more cases set for filing in the next two weeks,” Ople said.
She also reported that one of the accused in the scam victimized overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Cambodia was arrested in San Fernando, Pampanga on March 7.
Ople said they are also monitoring human trafficking reports of OFWs in Poland and in other parts of Europe.
The workers are allegedly being subjected to low wages and unsafe labor conditions.
“The DMW continues to provide food and other forms of assistance to 39 Filipino workers who were brought to Belgium by a manpower company based in Poland,” she said.
“These workers were recently granted temporary work permits by the Belgian government pending the resolution of their case,” she added.
Ope said they will be working with the Department of Justice which expressed openness to collaborate with the DMW through its Witness Protection Program. It will also work with the Presidential Communications Office.
“The illegal recruitment is done online and so we need to use social media more effectively to expose these syndicates,” she said.
“If our workers leave unprepared, unaware of their rights and not even realizing how life-changing a decision it is to work abroad, then the probability of landing in unsafe, high-risk environments becomes sky-high,” she added.
The official renewed her call to those seeking employment abroad to “go through the legal process” of applying. – gb
READ MORE: Avoid deals with illegal recruiters online, Ople appeals to job seekers
