SENATOR Grace Poe on Sunday called on the government to reinforce its commitment and capacity to protect Filipino workers before they leave the country and while they are abroad.
She made the statement amid the bullet-planting scam and other extortion rackets at the airport targeting Filipino workers and other passengers.
Corrupt airport personnel are accused of putting bullets inside the luggage of a traveler and then forces him or her to cough up money to avoid going to jail.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., meanwhile, questioned the deployment of government prosecutors to the airport, saying it’s the wrong solution to the bullet-planting or “tanim-bala” scam.
Instead, he recommended the sending of defense lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office “since it is the victims of the scam that need free defense counsels.”
The Department of Justice started deploying prosecutors to the airport early this month following the discovery of the bullet-planting scam allegedly being run by a syndicate and involves corrupt airport personnel, although Marcos believes the scam has been happening for years.
“It’s better if we put up a PAO office or representative of PAO to defend those being accused and who are incapable of paying a lawyer,” Marcos said.
Poe said migrant Filipino workers should in no way feel abandoned, neglected or harmed by the very government that they are sacrificing for.
“During the tanim-bala hearing at the Senate, it was clear that our airport officials do not have compassion for our [migrant workers],” Poe said.
“They were finger-pointing the whole time. No one seems to be in control and no one wants to take responsibility. So when these things happen, our [workers] are left to fend for themselves.”
Poe urged airport officials to give more protection to migrant workers by providing help desks and going after corrupt officials and personnel.
Poe, the frontrunner in the presidential preference surveys for 2016, is also proposing the creation of a central system to respond to worker concerns fast.
“The usual response to our [workers] is to tell them to file a complaint, and we know how tired that response is,” Poe said.
“We should look into setting up a highly integrated and responsive system and be pro-active in addressing these concerns. Let’s not subject our [workers] to red tape.”