3 HK agencies accused of trafficking Pinoy domestic helpers raided

 By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News

Hong Kong's Immigration Department and the police's Organized Crime and Triad Bureau and the Immigration Department raided three employment agencies suspected of illegally trafficking thousands of Filipino domestic helpers to other countries.
The South China Morning Post reported, however, that no arrests were made in the inspection of the three agencies referred by the Philippine consulate to authorities for supposedly promising Filipinos high-paying jobs in Moscow.
In exchange for breaking their contracts with their employers in Hong Kong and paying fees from HK$28,000 to HK$43,000, the agencies would arrange the Filipinos' flights to Russia without proper documentation.
Labor attaché Jalilo Dela Torre said almost all victims borrowed the processing fees from financial institutions or loan sharks.
Filipinos deep in debt often stay in Russia to work their mismatched jobs to earn their fees back and face threats from loan sharks, who muscle their families back in the Philippines for payment.
Over 4,000 undocumented Filipinos, most of whom worked as domestic helpers in Hong Kong, are currently working in Russia.
An earlier report by SCMP stated that Hong Kong and Singapore are key centers for trafficking rings to send Filipino helpers to Russia, Brazil, and Turkey.
Focus was put on the plight of Filipino domestic helpers after the Department of Labor and Employment in Manila imposed a three-week ban on the issuance of overseas employment certificates.
The ban was enacted to "cleanse" the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) of employees benefiting from illegal recruitment. — MDM, 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