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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Mississippi trafficking case reveals expansion of trafficking syndicates’ operation, says COWA Report


A report submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs (COWA) on Wednesday morning on the case of 11 Filipinos trafficked in Mississippi, USA, revealed that trafficking syndicates have expanded operations in the United States and appear to be abetted by high-level officials at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

The report by Committee Chairman Walden Bello also expressed concern that “traffickers may be working with supposedly reputable US companies and may have developed connections within the US Embassy in Manila.”

Bello carried out his investigation of the trafficking case in Los Angeles, where the 11 victims are currently residing, and in Washington during the congressional recess. His mission stemmed from a COWA resolution to assign high priority to the case following a privilege speech on the trafficking incident delivered by Deputy Speaker Erin Tanada.

The 11 Filipinos were recruited by Adman Human Resources Placement and Promotions, Inc., to work for a hotel in Virginia, their temporary work (H2B) visas sponsored by a US-based global services and staffing firm Aramark. Some of the workers claimed to have paid placement fees worth over P300,000 only to find out that the initial work contract would not be honored. They were instead made to work at a small hotel in Mississippi called Royal Hospitality, required to clean 14-16 rooms a day and were paid only $4.75 per room, a far cry from the $7.50 an hour that was originally stipulated in their contracts.

Responding to outrage both in the US and the Philippines to the trafficking case, the POEA has cancelled Adman’s license. Adman, however, has appealed the case, and continues to hold on to the exorbitant sums it extorted from the victims.

According to Bello, his investigation brought him in touch with officers of the Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement Division of the Department of Homeland Security, who assured him that their agents in Mississippi are carrying out an investigation of Aramark, which denies having sponsored the workers. Bello asserted, “It is very difficult to get forged papers past the US Department of Labor, which authorizes requests for H2B visas. I do not find Aramark’s denial convincing.”

Along the same lines, the role of the consular division at the US Embassy might merit investigation, said Bello. “In our talk with FBI Agents with the agency’s Anti-Trafficking unit in Los Angeles, C1 visas (allowing transit in the US) are very difficult to get, yet an unusual number holders of C1 visas issued in the Philippines have figured in a number of trafficking cases involving Filipinos entering the US,” the COWA chair claimed.

“Even the FBI is alarmed at the ease by which visas are provided to Filipinos who end up being trafficked,” Bello said. “Ibig-sabihin nito, lumalaganap ang operasyon ng mga sindikato sa US. Have the traffickers succeeded in penetrating the US Embassy?”

Dismal performance in efforts against trafficking

From the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 the Philippines is listed under Tier 2 Watch List, or as a country “whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, AND: a) the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or, c) the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.”

Noong 2006 to 2008, Tier 2 tayo. Nakaka-alarma dahil malapit na rin tayong bumaba sa tier 3, kung hindi natin mai-improve anti-trafficking efforts ng pamahalaan,” Bello pointed out. “The case of the LA 11 is an example of how the government needs to intensify the crackdown on government employees who play accomplice to trafficking syndicates.”

According to the report, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency’s (POEA) allowed the recruitment agency Adman to continue operations despite the fact that 31 cases had been filed against Adman. In the 10 cases that have been decided, Adman was shown to be in violation of recruitment regulations. “Adman’s license has now been cancelled owing to the LA 11 case,” said Bello. “But with its very negative adjudication record, its license should have been cancelled way back.”

The report also revealed that corruption at the higher levels of the POEA may have led to the toleration of and weak action on illegal recruitment. In fact, in January 2011, a complaint was filed at the Department of Justice against five high-ranking officials of the POEA for abetting human trafficking and corruption who had been able to weather an earlier attempt to remove them. Even after the case was brought to the Department of Justice, some of the officials remain at their posts.

“The case of Adman is one out of so many cases of trafficking that may involve government personnel. The government has to act urgently and find out who are protecting these recruitment agencies, and heads must roll,” Bello said. “As the State Department rightly notes, “the Philippines has still to secure a conviction for labor trafficking.”

“The alarming picture that emerges from the Adman case is collusion among syndicates, transnational corporations, personnel within the Philippine government, and possibly even plants within the consular division of the US Embassy,” Bello said. “The best way we can save Filipinos from being victimized by the syndicates is through speedy prosecution and conviction, especially of government officials complicit to these deals.”

The report made a number of recommendations, including the following:

1. Dismissal of Adman’s appeal of the cancellation of its license and the POEA order to return to the 11 trafficked victims of the money it illegally extorted from them.

2. The Department of Justice should move swiftly on the case of the five high POEA officials accused of abetting trafficking. While their guilt or innocence is being determined, POEA Administrator Carlos Cao should place the accused on preventive suspension. This move is needed not only to root out corruption at the agency but also to serve as a signal that the Philippine government is willing to take the tough measures against trafficking that will prevent it from falling into the US State Department’s Tier 3 status on human trafficking. The government, warns the State Department, still has to a secure a conviction for labor trafficking.

3. OWWA should retain Welfare Officer Donn Duero on its overseas staff but not compel him to return to the Philippines while the threats to his life remain credible. Mr. Duero’s tour of duty in North America has come to an end, but his energy and commitment to the welfare of OFWs would be an asset in other critical overseas postings, for instance, in the troubled Middle East.

4. DOLE should add another labor attache and at least one more Welfare Officer to cover the 23 countries in North and South America covered by its staff posted with the Washington, DC, Embassy, with the two additional personnel to be based in the West Coast of the US.

5. POEA must verify that job vacancies really exist and have not been filled before it posts them on its website.

6. DOLE must review the direct-hire policy and seriously consider phasing it out if it is found to be prone to abuse.

7. The US government should grant T (Trafficked) visas to the OFW victims in the trafficking incident that would allow them to reside permanently and work in the US.

8. The US State Department should launch an investigation of possible connivance in trafficking by personnel connected with the consular division of the US Embassy in Manila.


Sabrina Laya S. Gacad
Senior Legislative and Media Officer
Office of Hon. WALDEN F. BELLO
AKBAYAN Party-list Representative
House of Representatives
Quezon City, Philippines
09178386944


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