A lawmaker has proposed a joint task force of immigration and labor officials to be stationed at the country’s international airports to fend off illegal recruiters and human traffickers.
The proposal was made by ACTS OFW Party-list Rep. John Bertiz amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s 72-hour-repatriation order for overseas Filipino workers in Kuwait.
The lawmaker said it would be a wise move to prevent Filipino workers to exit from the country to Kuwait despite the total deployment ban.
Bertiz said the proposed inter-agency body should be tasked to look into possible connivance between illegal recruiters and airport personnel in defying the Kuwait employment ban.
“I strongly urge the creation of a Joint Task Force that would be tasked to monitor the exit of Filipinos bound for Kuwait and other known transit points for this Middle East country that is temporarily off-limits to HSWs,” he said.
The solon disclosed that the temporary ban on OFW recruitment for Kuwait has triggered the rise in illegal recruitment activities.
“We need to put teeth into the deployment ban,” he stated.
Earlier this month, President Duterte has ordered a ban on the deployment of HSWs to Kuwait following the death of three domestic helpers all in a span of two months.
