Trafficked Filipino teachers urged to step forward

By: 10 years ago

Recruiter Isidro Rodriguez is at large. PAWISS PHOTO

WASHINGTON, DC — Some 500 undocumented Filipino teachers in the United States who were victims of illegal recruiters are being encouraged by the Philippine Embassy to step out of the shadows so they could be assisted in securing immigration relief.

Embassy officials also said their coming forward would help and in bringing to justice those who victimized them.

“Our teachers need not be afraid. We are here to help,” Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. said after he was told of the sad plight of the undocumented Filipino teachers who were brought into the US by illegal recruiters several years ago.

Cuisia assured some 25 trafficked Filipino teachers he met with at the Embassy that authorities in the Philippines will continue to seek justice for them by going after their recruiter.

At large

The recruiter, Isidro Rodriguez, is facing multiple cases of illegal recruitment, alien smuggling, visa fraud and human trafficking filed against him in the Philippines and the US but is at large after he was released from detention a few months ago.

A total of 21 illegal recruitment cases have been filed against Rodriguez while 41 recruitment violation cases have been filed against his company, Renaissance Staffing Support Center Inc. in Manila.

“We will not stop until we get Isidro Rodriguez,” Cuisia told the teachers and other trafficking victims who came to thank the Embassy for the assistance that had been extended to them since 2007.

Cuisia promised to continue providing consular assistance to the trafficked teachers, including the waiver of authentication fees and issuance of the necessary certification to support their request for immigration relief with the US Department of Homeland Security.

Job check

Labor Attache Angel Borja, who also attended the meeting, said the Embassy would also recommend that employment opportunities being offered to Filipinos in the US be first verified to determine if such jobs exist.

“This is intended to protect our kababayans from other Isidro Rodriguezes out there,” he told the teachers.

Borja said Rodriguez remains on top of the watch list of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Bureau of Immigration.

Lawyer Arnedo Valera, executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), a nongovernment organization that has been providing legal assistance to many of the teachers, said cases have also been filed against Rodriguez with the US Citizenship and Immigration Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Valera, who accompanied the teachers during their meeting with Cuisia, commended the Embassy’s anti-trafficking efforts, saying it was the report of then Ambassador Willy Gaa to Manila in 2008 that eventually led to the arrest and detention of Rodriguez.

Partnership

“Since 2007, we have been engaged in a meaningful partnership with the Embassy in the investigation and filing of charges against Rodriguez as well as in other cases of human and labor trafficking perpetrated by other recruitment agencies and individuals,” said Valera.

He said Rodriguez’s victims could be as many as 1,000—all of them teachers whom he allegedly was able to convince to pay from $10,000 to $15,000 each for non-existing jobs in various public schools across the US from 2003 to 2007.

Valera said that while some of the teachers decided to head back to the Philippines most of opted to take a chance by staying and working illegally in the US. He said these teachers had no choice but to take menial jobs to allow them to provide for their families and at the same time pay the high-interest loans they secured for their placement fees.

“Although as many as 300 of the teachers have already been issued trafficking visas and can now legally stay and work in the US, most are hesitant to surface because of shame and fear,” Valera said. “But they are now coming forward one by one.” #