Filipinos in Iraq urged to help PH gov’t nab illegal recruiters

At a town hall meeting in Erbil, capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad assures members of the Filipino community that it would act on their complaints against illegal recruiters who have victimized many of them. PH EMBASSY PHOTO/ANDREI BAUZON

ERBIL, Iraq —The Philippine Embassy in Baghdad today urged members of the Filipino community in Kurdistan and other parts of Iraq to come forward so that it could help in taking the necessary action against the illegal recruiters who have victimized many of them.

The Embassy, at the same time, warned jobseekers in the Philippines against recruiters promising jobs in Kurdistan. A government ban on the deployment of workers to Iraq remains in effect because of the prevailing security situation here.

Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato told members of the Filipino community here in Kurdistan’s regional capital the Embassy is ready to assist them in going after illegal recruiters both in Iraq and in the Philippines.

“We call on our kababayan here in Iraq and in the Philippines who have been victimized by illegal recruiters to come forward and tell us their story,” Cato said. “We are here to help them. They should not be afraid.”

Members of the Filipino community raised the issue during a townhall meeting at the Mar Elias Church attended by some of the more than 1,000 Filipinos working in Kurdistan.

Some of the victims told Cato that they paid huge amounts to cover processing fees for jobs in Kurdistan that turned out to be different from what they were promised. The illegal recruiters further exploited them by “selling” them from one employer to another.

Some remain undocumented and have been doing odd jobs in Erbil while others ended up as domestic helpers in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. Other victims were never able to leave the Philippines despite paying huge deployment fees.

Cato asked the complainants to provide the Embassy with information that could be presented by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Interagency Committee Against Trafficking chaired by the Department of Justice.

Like us on Facebook