IOM and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
have launched a series of trainings aimed at reducing illegal
recruitment and trafficking in some of the country’s most
vulnerable provinces.

The campaign began with orientation and career guidance sessions
for 400 tertiary students in five colleges in Masbate
province.  A group of 16 public employment service officers
and academics also attended a two-day trainers' course on
pre-employment orientation, and 72 law enforcement officers
completed a training on illegal recruitment and trafficking.
Similar programmes are scheduled for Agusan del Sur, Antique and
Maguindanao provinces in the coming weeks. 

The trainings come as Masbate Governor Rizalina
Seachon-Lañete signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the
Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE), Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA), and the Commission on Filipinos
Overseas (CFO) to roll out the Campaign Against Illegal
Recruitment, Trafficking and Irregular Migration
(CAIRTIM). 

The CAIRTIM is part of the MDG-F Joint Programme on Alternatives
to Migration: Decent Jobs for the Youth, supported by the
Government of Spain. Through the International Labour Organization,
the programme also provides education subsidies,
technical/vocational and entrepreneurship training for the
youth. 

"We support bringing down the service capacities of national
government agencies to the grassroots,” says IOM National
Programme Officer Ricardo Casco, "People in Masbate need jobs and
want Masbate to become a more active site for job fairs and
recruitment. Without these, unscrupulous recruiters will continue
to prey on their vulnerabilities." 

Masbate is among the four provincial beneficiaries of the joint
programme. Along with Antique, Maguindanao, and Agusan del Sur, the
province ranks among the poorest in the Philippines. As an isolated
island province, Masbate is also a source and transit site for
trafficked persons. 

“We also need to make sure that officials have the
capacity to provide pre-employment counseling and advice to prevent
Filipinos from being victimized by traffickers and illegal
recruiters.  We support the DOLE-POEA programme in engaging
the local government, schools, local media and law enforcers in the
campaign," says Casco. 

The joint programme aims to provide poor, young Filipinos with
alternatives to migration and better access to decent work through
public-private partnerships, more inclusive basic education and
life skills, career guidance, an understanding of safe migration,
vocational training and entrepreneurship. 

For more information, please contact: 

Ricardo Casco

IOM Manila

Tel. +63 2 230 1752

Email: "mailto:rcasco@iom.int">rcasco@iom.int