Congresswoman Marissa Magsino of the OFW party-list group pushes the passage of House Bill 7865 seeking to consolidate and update existing laws on illegal recruitment into a single penal law.
Magsino said the measure would generate a more effective and efficient enforcement and implementation of Philippine laws to combat illegal recruitment.
Magsino lamented that illegal recruitment has been growing and evolving through the use of online modes and multi-country transit points schemes.
Recently, there have been numerous cases of illegal recruitment of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), particularly for countries in Southeast Asia, which often lead to human trafficking, she noted.
Magsino said illegal recruiters and human traffickers were taking advantage of information and communications technologies (ICT) to profile, recruit and exploit their victims offering fake job offers and promises in the absence of traditional physical and geographical limitations.
She said the global nature of illegal recruitment and the abuse of these technologies also make it more difficult for law enforcement authorities to combat this crime, requiring a certain level of digital expertise and cooperation across borders to support prosecution
“One of the identified gaps contributing to the evolving problem of illegal recruitment is the absence of a single penal law,” Magsino said.
Magsino said Philippine laws against illegal recruitment included scattered provisions found in the ‘Labor Code of the Philippines’ (Presidential Decree 442), in Republic Act 8042 as amended by Republic Act 10022, or the ‘Migrant Workers Act’, Republic Act 11641 or the ‘Department of Migrant Workers Act’, and applicable provisions of Republic Act 10175, or the ‘Anti-Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012’, Republic Act 11862, or the ‘Expanded Anti-Trafficking Persons Act of 2022’, and other special laws.
House Bill 7865 aims to specifically penalize acts of illegal recruitment committed by, through and with the use of ICT technologies or systems, otherwise known as ‘online illegal recruitment’, and provide higher penalties (fines) for greater deterrence.
Magsino pointed out that the bill incorporates “mechanisms designed to expedite the investigation and prosecution of the offenses through international coordination and cooperation, as well as confer jurisdiction to local courts in proper cases in recognition of the difficulties encountered by law enforcement agencies by reason of the cross-border nature of illegal recruitment in many cases, particularly those perpetrated online, which raises jurisdictional issues.”
The bill mandates the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), other appropriate government agencies, and local government units, in applicable cases, to make available specific social services to victims of illegal recruitment and their families as safety nets and recovery assistance.
