Minggu, 11 September 2011

Afghan Deployment Ban Change Sparks Illegal Recruitment Activities


The partial lifting of deployment ban to Afghanistan is not only seen as opportunity for Filipinos to land lucrative jobs in the war-torn Middle Eastern country. It also ushers a spate of illegal recruitment campaigns orchestrated by unregistered agencies or private individuals.


Recruitment veteran Emmanuel Geslani revealed this development as he warned aspiring OFWs looking to work in Afghanistan to check job offers carefully.

“The memo from the US military explicitly states that only those with existing contracts can be renewed and that no new workers can be deployed to those bases,” he said.

Geslani disclosed that part of illegal recruiting syndicates’ modus operandi is to post job openings for skilled construction workers to Dubai, and then transited to Kabul, where high-paying jobs at US bases in Kandahar or Bagram are located. Illegal recruiters are now looking for applicants in some provinces, especially in Central Luzon, Geslani said.

The deployment ban in Afghanistan and Iraq was partially lifted last Wednesday after the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Governing Board approved it amid the clamor of workers there and upon recommendation of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa of Malacanang’s Overseas Preparedness Team.

Workers in Afghanistan may now also take a vacation back in the Philippines and will be allowed to go back to work place to finish their contracts.

According to POEA records, an estimated 5,000 OFWs are employed in US and international military camps in Afghanistan despite the deployment ban imposed by the agency in the war-torn country since 2001.

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