Thank you for this opportunity to share our insights as a non-government organization on government’s efforts to fight human trafficking.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center is currently monitoring and assisting trafficked victims in 16 pending cases at various stages of investigation and trial.

With the help and guidance of Atty. Reynaldo Robles of ChanRobles & Associates, who incidentally is also the chief of staff of Senator Trillanes, and in partnership with the DOJ, we were able to assist and support two trafficked survivors in filing cases against a notorious human trafficker in Malaysia, his recruiter here in the Philippines, and some immigration agents involved in the escort of the victims.

But just to show you, Madame Chair, how difficult that journey is – here is a timeline put together by the Center:

• The NBI investigation took 4 months
• The DOJ investigation took 6 months
• A case filed against the recruiter has been ongoing at the Batangas RTC for 12 months
• The administrative case filed VS immigration agents has been going on for 21 months already.

Regarding the much publicized case of the 137 bus drivers sent to Dubai, the DoJ investigation into the illegal recruitment aspect took 16 months; the NBI investigation into the human trafficking aspect took 6 months; Our class suit for damages and nullification of loans has been on-going for 15 months already.

Meanwhile, the toll on the victims – emotionally, physically and financially, is extremely heavy.

Even if they want to, they are unable to look for jobs because of extreme poverty. Many of these victims don’t even have the pocket money to pay for transport fare and food every time they are summoned to attend a hearing. In the case of the bus drivers, one of them slept under a bridge here in Manila because he couldn’t afford to go home.

The emotional and physical burdens are just as heavy – for the trafficked survivors who were molested and forced into prostitution, they are forced to put on a brave face, keeping secrets from even their spouses, on the kind of work they had to endure while abroad.

Based on our experience, Madam Chair, we therefore recommend the following:

1. For the DFA to use its legal assistance fund in filing forced labor and or trafficking cases against foreign employers and agents who connived with each other in profiting from the vulnerability of our workers;
2. For the DSWD, DoLE and DoJ to work on a justice and reintegration program specifically tailored for victims of human trafficking, including children, so that NGOs like us can have better chances of convincing these victims to pursue cases against their recruiters;
3. For the Senate and House of Representatives to fast-track legislation that would lead to:

1. An amendment to Section 7 of the Anti-Trafficking Act of 2003 that would delete the right of the accused to privacy; Madame Chair, why bestow the right to privacy to an accused who in turn uses this privilege by recruiting more victims? This so-called right also diminishes our own right to inform or warn the public whenever a human trafficker with pending warrants of arrests is operating in a particular province.

1. b. A review of fees being charged against an overseas job applicant as well as lending and recruitment practices that makes human trafficking profitable. In the case of the 137 bus drivers, Madame Chair, they were asked to sign 39 checks and various documents in one day by the lending company. When they came home penniless and traumatized because the job offer was bogus, the lending company and the bank even took them to court. When we inquired from the POEA and BSP about this, they said that none of them have any jurisdiction over lending companies that cater to the OFW market. Yet, in many cases our OFWs are forced to endure inhumane work conditions to pay off such debts. Doon po sa bagong batas, may provision doon about lending companies pero hindi pa rin po malinaw kung sino o aling ahensya ang dapat magbantay sa mga balasubas at ganid na lending companies.

1. We also wish to appeal to the committee to review Republic Act 10022 that lapsed into law last January. Specifically, I am very concerned that its provisions mandating the DFA and our foreign posts to certify whether a labor-receiving country is compliant with labor laws and international conventions could lead to an erosion of goodwill on the part of our foreign service – goodwill that is badly needed if we are to help our trafficked victims.

Kung mapapahiya po ang ating mga ambassadors at labor attaches dahil sa kagustuhan na ipatupad ang batas na ito, sino pa po ang puwedeng lapitan ng ating OFWs? Kung ang ILO po ay hindi maggawa ang ganitong uri ng certification process, paano pa kaya ang DFA?

1. We also want a clear target set on when and how we can gradually withdraw from the household service workers’ market especially in the Middle East. Unless we set a definite timeline, the exodus of mothers and daughters will continue, by default – because there is no specific program aimed at reducing their numbers. I hope that TESDA can come up with a nationwide skills training program specifically for women, to remove them from the category of workers most likely to apply as domestic helpers abroad.

In closing, the NGOs who are here are just a tiny fraction of a vortex of groups and individuals advocating for stronger protective mechanisms for our OFWs including those trafficked to different countries.

Foreign grants are difficult to get by, and they are often tailor-made for specific purposes. We call on the different government agencies to provide the NGO sector with technical assistance and yes, financial support, so that we can sustain our programs and services at the micro, grassroots level.

Thank you.

Here’s the video that the Blas F. Ople Policy Center produced against Human Trafficking and Illegal Recruitment. Please share this video with your office mates, friends, and family – especially those who have plans on leaving the country as an OFW.

Thank you to all the bloggers who attended the event. We hope that you can help us spread the word.

Here are the posts made by the bloggers. I’ll update this as they make their posts:

Noemi Dado from About My Recovery: OFW alert: Beware of Illegal Recruitment and Human Trafficking

Filipino community rallies around 137 stranded bus drivers in Dubai; Ople Center seeks immediate probe and suspension of licensed agency involved in their recruitment

In keeping with the spirit of Lent, the “bayanihan” spirit was alive and well in Dubai as Filipinos pitch in canned goods, water, toiletries, and other food items to help 137 bus drivers stranded and looking for jobs after being deployed there by a licensed recruitment agency.

The stranded drivers were overwhelmed by the show of hospitality and generosity by Filipino community leaders who traveled in a convoy yesterday (Black Saturday). According to Ares Gutierrez, sub-editor of XPRESS, the Dubai-based paper that broke the story about the stranded bus drivers, most of the victims were confused as to what they should do next.

One of the drivers, Claro Oliver of Rizal province, contacted the Blas F. Ople Policy Center yesterday for help in pursuing justice against their recruiter, CYM International Services, a licensed recruitment agency. The agency promised the Filipino drivers good-paying jobs at Dubai’s government transport agency known as Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Some of the drivers, some of who quit their local jobs despite years of service, have been waiting to be hired by RTA since January of this year. Desperate for food and cash, the stranded drives have resorted to scavenging a dumpsite for scrap food.

Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the Blas F. Ople Center, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to immediately investigate and if possible, suspend the said agency and its counterpart in Dubai, Al Toomoh Technical Services. “The sheer number of victims involved constitutes an act of economic sabotage by this licensed agency. We urge immediate action and for the owners of the agency to be barred from leaving the country.”

The bus drivers, nearly half of who hail from the province of Bulacan, complained to the Ople Center that their passports were being held by the foreign counterpart of their local agency in Dubai. This prevents them from applying for new jobs. Majority of the victims are professional drivers who have worked for years in reputable transport companies such as Baliuag Transit. The Center said the Philippine Consulate should intervene and obtain the passports of the stranded workers.

The plight of the 137 bus drivers were first exposed by Filipino journalists Jay Hilotin and Ares Gutierrez of Xpress publications based on a tip from a fellow Filipino journalist working at Gulf News. Word quickly spread through e-mail and soon, an assembly time and place were designated to enable Filipinos to join an aid convoy leading to the camp where the bus drivers were staying. A Filipino association of Airsoft aficionados whose game was suspended last Friday, pitched in by giving cash donations.

Aside from lack of food, the drivers were sharing living quarters near the Ajman garbage dumpsite. Their building’s electric power is sourced from a generator, giving them only 3 to 4 hours of electricity. The building also has inadequate water supply.

According to the drivers, they paid as much as P150,000 to CYM International Services in exchange for jobs at RTA. Some of the drivers have been staying in Dubai waiting for the promised jobs to come into fruition since January.

Based on interviews with XPRESS, driver Max Sumulong, 34, one of the victims, said last year CYM had offered him a job as a driver for Dh5,200 a month and he had given the agency 10,000 pesos (Dh1,000) as “processing fee”.

“The agency had asked each one of us to take out a 150,000-peso (Dh11,418) loan from a lending agency recommended by them and made us sign undated cheques worth 405,000 pesos (about Dh40,000) addressed to a bank and the lending agency, payable in 15 months,” he said.

Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila, said: “We’ve been collecting aluminium cans, selling them at Dh4 per kg in Ajman, just to have something to eat.”

The stranded bus drivers are hoping that the Philippine Consulate can help them look for jobs in Dubai rather than be sent home. “Their biggest worry is on how they can repay the lending agency. If they come home, whatever they earn as bus drivers won’t be enough to pay off their loans and still sustain the needs of their families,” Ople explained.

Ople said she is awaiting documents from the bus drivers that would help speed up the POEA’s investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment practices of CYM International Services and its counterpart in Dubai. The Filipino community has lent the drivers a photocopy machine so they could consolidate and reproduce all the documents needed to bolster their case.

The former labor undersecretary also hoped that the 137 drivers would be able to meet President Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro and other high-ranking officials in their visit to Dubai.

Picture courtesy of Ares Gutierrez of XPRESS, a Dubai-based paper