Sunday, February 24, 2008 7M more illegal migrants in 3 years
FROM about one million Filipinos working or residing illegally abroad in 2003, the ranks have ballooned to 8.29 million in 2006, said Golda Roma, deputy director of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
Poverty is the main reason Filipinos want to work abroad even without proper documentation, added Roma, whose organization campaigns against human trafficking.
Speaking at a seminar-symposium last Friday in Tagbilaran City, Roma defined an “irregular migrant” as a national who leaves the Philippines without proper travel documents, or those who initially secure valid permits but eventually lose their legitimate status abroad.
It’s not easy to detect an irregular migrant because the Philippines has no national ID system, Roma pointed out.
While the government tries to stop irregular migration—such as going abroad with a tourist visa even if they intend to work—more and more Filipinos want to go to other countries by any means.
Crackdown
“The character of the Filipinos is that we want things done the fastest way even if this is risky and dangerous, especially if the host countries will conduct a crackdown on illegal aliens,” Roma said.
Ricardo Casco, national program officer of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the top three regional destinations of Filipino irregular migrants are the Americas, East and South Asia, and Europe.
They manage to get in, he added, as frontier workers or runaways. They also use spousal arrangements, family reunions and inter-country transfer or border movements.
Casco said that thousands of irregular migrants are detained abroad, forcing the government and non-government organizations (NGOs), such as the Center for Migrant Advocacy and IOM, to work for their repatriation.
Thousands more, however, work secretly with their abusive foreign employers, he added.
Evelia Dorato, officer-in-charge of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) 7, said that some irregular migrants were victims of illegal recruiters.
Those seeking jobs abroad must consult with POEA so they will find out if the person or firm recruiting them is licensed and if there is really a job opening and contract before they even leave, she added.
CMA Executive Director Ellen Sana said that globalization fuels mass migration, but the problem is that there are people who take shortcuts through the legal procedures. (EOB)
