The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said that from June to October this year alone, they were able to rescue 156 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were bound to work abroad despite being underage.
POEA director Sherilyn Malonzo said that recruitment agencies alter the documents of the workers, particularly their age, to may it appear that they are of the right age to fly abroad to work, reported GMA News.
Meanwhile, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary Jacinto Paras said that even foreign recruiters are now going straight to provinces to look for prospect underage workers to send overseas.
In response to this scheme, POEA has released suspension orders against more than 85 recruitment agencies while DOLE has created a task force against illegal recruitment of minors.
In September, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) offloaded a group of underage OFWs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). The group was supposedly on their way to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to work as domestic helpers.
Some of the victims were as young as 15 years old despite the minimum required age of 23 for OFWs applying as domestic helpers abroad.
