12 OFWs briefly held in Singapore over questionable travel papers

Twelve overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on their way to the Middle East were briefly held at an airport in Singapore for allegedly having questionable travel documents.

Reports reaching the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Manila said the 12 were barred from boarding their connecting flight. Aside from their travel papers, authorities also suspected that the OFWs' plane tickets were purchased through fake credit cards.

Based on the report of Labor Attaché Vicente Cabe of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Singapore, the 12 were supposed to work as domestic workers in various Middle East countries and made a stopover at Changi Airport.

“They were turned over to the Airport Police Department, which contacted us in the POLO,” Cabe said.

The POLO then contacted the OFWs’ respective agencies and asked the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to verify if their deployment were legitimate.

After the POEA verified the legitimacy of the deployment, POLO Singapore asked the 12 OFWs to decide whether to pursue their employment abroad. Of the 12, four decided to return to the Philippines. They arrived in Manila on September 9.

Cabe said the OFWs' respective agencies provided them with tickets, both for those bound to the Middle East and those bound for the  Philippines.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz lauded POLO Singapore for its swift assistance to the OFWs, and ordered POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac to look closely into the case and determine if there was fault in either of the parties.

Baldoz said the POEA’s findings will determine whether an appropriate sanction will be issued against an erring party. —KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more