PUBLIC SERVICE: Tulong sa mga Biktima ng Illegal Recruitment
Isang kaibigan ang nakiusap na i-publish ko naman daw sa aking blog ang malupit na sinapit ng mga kababayan natin na naging biktima ng illegal recruitment sa UAE. Ang layunin namin ay para bigyan ng babala ang lahat ng makakabasa nito na mag-ingat sa mga illegal recruiters. Mag-isip po tayo ngayon lalo na at mayroong global crisis kaya napaka-imposible ang mga pangakong trabaho sa ibang bansa.
Kung kayo naman ay nasa UAE, baka gusto raw ninyong tumulong. Iwan niyo lang ang iyong e-mail address sa amin at ipadala namin ang mga numbers na pwedeng tawagan dyan sa Dubai.
Kung kayo naman ay nasa ibang bansa na katulad ko, kung meron kayo kakilala sa UAE pwede niyo ipakiusap ang iyong tulong.
Isang residente raw ng Dubai ang skeptical dito noon una, pinuntahan niya ang lugar kung saan nakatira pansamantala ang mga 137 na Pinoy na mga ito. Nagulat siya at nadurog ang kanyang puso ng makita sa tambakan ng mga basura sa Ajman ang mga Pinoy na ito na walang makain.
Humihingi sila ng tulong at kahit pangkain man lang daw.
Basahin niyo po ang report.
Driver scam: Agency uses RTA name
Nearly 140 Filipinos – recruited to work as Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) bus drivers in Dubai – have become victims of a possible 20.5-million-peso (Dh2 million) swindle.
Without the promised jobs, some have been reduced to scavenging to eke out their next meal.
Many of the recruits said they came on a visit visa, arranged by CYM International Services, a job agency in Manila , which endorsed them to a local agency, Al Tomooh Technical Services, in Dubai . Al Tomooh declined to comment.
“It’s clear we’re not expected here,” said Reynaldo V. Salas, 35, a former bus driver of Baliuag Transit, wiping away his tears. He showed photocopies of cheques they signed to a bank and lending agency in Manila .
Some victims have already overstayed their visa period.
For each day that a tourist overstays a one-month visa in Dubai/UAE, he/she has to pay a fine of Dh200 (around 2,000 pesos) for the first day and Dh100 for each subsequent day.
The group that had arrived between January 29 and March 6, are currently staying in a flat near the Ajman garbage dump site.
Max Sumulong, 34, one of the victims, said last year CYM had offered him a job as a driver for Dh5,200 a month and he had given the agency 10,000 pesos (Dh1,000) as “processing fee”.
“The agency had asked each one of us to take out a 150,000-peso (Dh11,418) loan from a lending agency recommended by them and made us sign undated cheques worth 405,000 pesos (about Dh40,000) addressed to a bank and the lending agency, payable in 15 months,” he said.
Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila , said: “We’ve been collecting aluminium cans, selling them at Dh4 per kg in Ajman , just to have something to eat.”
Uncertain future
Arthur Hernandez, a bus driver for nine years, said: “I don’t know whom to believe anymore … An employee of Al Tomooh said hiring of bus drivers has been frozen. She said there are jobs open for taxi drivers. We’re told to go back to the Philippines . Nothing is clear.”
Virginia Calvez, Philippine Labour Attache and Head of Philippine Overseas Labour Office (Polo) in Dubai , said they were aware of the situation.
Calvez said they had requested the Manila government to stop processing drivers for RTA in 2008 after a similar case of illegal recruitment involving an agency had come to light. Carol Pestaño, a document specialist at CYM in Manila , said she didn’t know why the workers came on a visit visa.
