THE Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) is encouraging Filipinos to think and reflect before deciding to live and work abroad.
This is after the CFO received reports of Filipinos getting mixed up in illegal recruitment, human trafficking and bride or marriage exchange customs, said Paul Avecilla, CFO senior emigrant services officer.
Avecilla said these three incidents are still the major problems of some Filipinos who have gone abroad.
Based on their data, Avecilla said there have been 542 victims of these incidents from March 2011 to August 2018.
These incidents still happen despite their intensified pre-departure orientation seminar (PDOS).
He said that during the PDOS, aside from informing the emigrant applicants of the documents they need to submit, they also include counseling for them. They even design their guidance and counseling seminars based on the age bracket of the applicants.
Avecilla explained that during counseling, they usually ask the applicants their reasons for emigrating. They show them the advantages of working and living in a particular country. They also show the bad side, not to discourage the applicants, but to show them the real situation.
Avecilla said there is nothing wrong with leaving the country as long as one is ready to face the challenges.
“In moving abroad, of course the excitement is there. But after that phase, what will happen? A lot will be sacrificed,” said Avecilla.
More than 5,000 Filipinos leave the country every day.
To address this continuing problem, CFO has been conducting forums in some barangays in Cebu to educate and give awareness to the Filipinos who have family members abroad or those thinking about going abroad.
“We are hoping there will come a day when these incidents will no longer exist,” said Avecilla.
They began holding these forums on June 3, 2019 in Barangay Poblacion and Ibabao in Cordova. They will hold forums at the Abellana National School and in Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City. (JJL)