DOLE to keep warning OFWs against being used by drug rings

With a Filipina facing execution in Indonesia for a drug-related offense, the Department of Labor and Employment on Saturday said it will continue reminding overseas Filipino workers against unwittingly being used as drug mules.
 
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the reminders are issued during pre-employment orientation seminars and re-deployment.
 
"So meron pa rin tayong ganyan na nabibiktima but, yun na nga, kahit anong paalaala natin, ang importante ay dire-diretso lang nating paalalahanan kasi nga hindi pa naman nila naiintindihan siguro yung pasikot-sikot ng kanilang pinapasukang ganyang mga sindikato," she said on government-run dzRB radio.
 
Even recruitment agencies issue their own reminders to the OFWs, she said.
 
Presently, the Philippine government is working to save Mary Jane Veloso from the death penalty. She was caught with 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Yogyakarta airport in 2010.
 
But Baldoz also noted some may still get tempted by the large amounts of money promised them.
 
"(N)ahu-hook din sila sa ganoong klaseng mga ano dahil malaki rin yata ang kanilang kinikita," she said.

According to Veloso's family, she did not know that there were drugs in her luggage. They said she had been deceived by a friend who was part of a crime syndicate. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News

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