Duterte orders gov’t agencies to do more vs illegal recruiters

November 28, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the concerned government agencies to go after the illegal recruiters who have been victimizing many Filipinos who want to work abroad.

In a speech during the National Awarding Ceremony of the 2018 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities in Malacanang, Duterte recalled how the three mothers begged for his help when he was still the mayor of Davao City because their children who were recruited for the Middle East went missing.

He asked Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista to come up with a "structure" against illegal recruiters.

"I am sending him (Bautista) a message now that you have to do more. Since you are a military man, then I hope you can come up with a structure - a bigger one to go after this recruitment. ANd so goes for the Department of Labor and everybody," he said.

Bautista is a retired military general.

"My orders are really to get them. You should know where to fish for them. And return them to the water because they are fish," Duterte added.

The President, who is a lawyer by profession, said that illegal recruitment is non-bailable.

He expressed sadness that many Filipinos still want to go abroad despite the challenges they face abroad. Celerina Monte/DMS