Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Let task force act, PB asks PGMA
THE Cebu Provincial Board (PB) has asked President Arroyo to hasten the implementation of the order creating an anti-illegal recruitment task force to protect Filpino workers.
The task force was formed through the signing of Executive Order 579 last Oct. 23 to form the Presidential Anti-Illegal Task Force.
“The creation of the said unit was justified in the order saying that: it is important to create such a task force as the problem of illegal recruitment has already reached alarming proportions as to cause public concern,” PB Wenceslao Gakit said in his proposed resolution, which was approved on mass motion during the PB’s out-of-town session at the Carmen Copper Corp. Staff Clubhouse in Toledo City, Cebu yesterday.
Gakit said the creation of an anti-illegal recruitment task force was very timely following the recent detention of 23 Cebuano overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for possession of alleged fake working papers.
They already filed criminal and administrative charges against their former Be Glad Worldwide Placement Agency (BGWPA) for labor violations, estafa and illegal recruitment.
Innocence
But Josefina Casianan, manager of BGWPA, maintained their innocence on the charges leveled against them, saying they could produce documents to disprove the accusations.
Casianan said the workers would not have been deported had they stayed with Multitask Co. Ltd., which paid about $1,000 for the processing of their papers.
The provincial government recently paid for the plane tickets of the workers in going back home on Sept.19.
“Indeed the problem of illegal recruitment has reach alarming proportion, that we do not have to wander far and wide to illustrate the same, for it even has knocked the doors of the Provincial Capitol, so to speak,” said Gakit.
Meanwhile, the 22 OFWs have asked the court to subpoena the officers of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for the registration records of their recruiter.
Unheeded
They resorted to this because the POEA reportedly left their requests unheeded.
This request was included in the criminal complaint filed by 22 of the 23 detained OFWs at the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor yesterday.
They named as respondents Marie Gladys Uy, Josefina Casianan and Jessa Paran, who are the owners, manager and agent, respectively, of BGWPA.
They also sued the owners and officers of Blue Pearl Travel and Tours, Prime Global Inc. and Multitask General Maintenance Co. Ltd, which was their employer in Tobago.
They asked that the respondents be charged with syndicated and large-scale recruitment, recruitment violations and violations of migratory laws under the Migrant Workers’ Act, violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and estafa.
In their complaint, the 22 said they had been “defrauded, unfairly treated and dehumanized” and are now swamped in debt because of this.
The workers had paid P34,240 for the placement fee and P78,864 for their airline tickets, which were purchased by the travel agency.
They alleged that Multitask cheated them on their wages and gave them meager food.
The complaint was received by city prosecutor Noel Cellona. (GMD/KAB)
