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| Not all departures are for the better, as one OFW found out when she went to Dubai. |
Two Catholic priests who have been offering temporary shelter to Filipino migrant workers thrown out of their accommodations by their employers and boarding house-mates after testing positive for Covid-19, have warned against employment recruiters in Hong Kong who are offering jobs in Dubai.
They may end up being forced into prostitution, according to
Fr. John Witherspoon and Fr. Jun Jacobe, both Oblates who help distressed foreign domestic helpers through the Mercy Foundation, which operates a number of hostels to shelter them.
The two stumbled upon the racket after rescuing an OFW who
had tested positive for Covid-19, and was left behind by a flight bound for Dubai.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
“One of the women in our care,” Fr. John related, “was about
to go to Dubai. But she tested positive and could not go. And she got word from
a friend who had gone ahead of her that the job she applied for was bogus, a
scam and she was caught up in sex work.”
“(Being left behind because of Covid-19 was) a sad thing but
it turned out into a blessing for her to stop her from going to that chap in
Dubai,” added Fr. John.
“They were bound for Dubai. I don’t know where they got the contact. But I think from the internet, from Facebook,” Fr. Jun said.
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They were offered free accommodation and free ticket going
to Dubai. “So the offering was still domestic helper and when they arrived at (Hong Kong) airport, they both tested positive,” he said.
For some unexplained reason, one managed to board the plane. However, when she arrived in Dubai, she told her friend who had remained in Hong Kong that she was taken right away to a sex den.
Fr Jun added, "And the one who became victim continued to communicate to the one left behind that she is now inside a jail."
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This kind of recruitment, which is illegal under Philippine
laws, is not new.
In September 2019, the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration said it has received reports that overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Singapore
and Cyprus have been lured into transferring to another country like Dubai,
Mongolia, Turkey and Russia.
Despite paying huge placement fees, they later found out the
conditions of employment were not what they had in mind; or worse, the offered
jobs were non-existent.
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE! |
“They were able to
travel to third countries using tourist visas and even without assurance of
employers waiting for them. Those who found employment later were sometimes
abused by the employers, and for lack of proper work documents, the hapless workers
were arrested and deported by immigration authorities,” POEA said.
The POEA reiterated its warning to Filipino workers employed
overseas to be more careful about accepting offers of employment in another
country.
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