MOU vs. illegal recruitment, human trafficking signed

By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News

The government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the private and labor sectors providing them access to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administrations' databases containing information related to illegal recruitment.
Signed Friday or days after the annual celebration of Migrant Workers Day, the MOU allows access to the National Illegal Recruitment Case Monitoring System (NIRCMS), Online Trafficking-in-Persons (TIP) Blacklist Database, and the Illegal Recruitment and TIP (IRTIP) Priority Targets List.
Khalid Hassan, International Labor Organization country office director, said these initiatives will benefit migrant workers and legal recruiters as well as further boost the Philippines' migrant protection laws.
"Addressing illegal recruitment is a crucial step while workers are still in their home country. Initiatives of the POEA launched today will benefit not only the recruitment agency, but also the Philippine migrant workers," Hassan said at POEA's Anti-Illegal Recruitment Summit.
NIRCMS will be used by enforcement and partner agencies to "endorse, monitor and update progress of illegal recruitment cases nationwide."
Developed from software to hardware with The Netherlands, NIRCMS will also be used to generate reports for policy making and program development.
Law enforcement agencies and the public will be able to access the Online TIP Blacklist Database, which will provide a list of persons, entities, and recruitment agencies involved in human trafficking.
Lastly, law enforcement agencies can use the IRTIP Priority Targets List to check the names of identified and validated illegal recruitment and human trafficking suspects and their modus operandi, routes, and types of victims.
The public may also use the POEA's Online Complaint and Legal Counseling Facility at any time to air their woes.
Aside from these projects, the ILO is also working with the Department of Labor and Employment on a labor laws compliance project to check the status of laborers in the country and child labor particularly in gold mining.
Signees to the MOU include the POEA, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice - National Prosecution Service, Bureau of Immigration, Manila International Airport Authority, and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force. —KBK, GMA News

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