Scourge of unabated online illegal recruitment

Illegal recruitment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) through social media has seriously proliferated over the last four years, rendering efforts by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to curb the practice ineffective.

Four years since DMW was established, the department was able to close 170,140 pages on Facebook and TikTok that were conducting illegal recruitment activities such as online direct hiring while charging fees

From only 614 pages in 2022, the pages taken down rose to 85,538 as of this November. Detected social media pages rose when DMW forged partnerships with Facebook owners Meta and TikTok to clamp down on these recruiters.

These agents have no valid licenses to recruit, according to the DMW.

Illegal recruitment activities are outlawed by the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

DMW conducts anti-illegal recruitment activities that used to be the task of the now-defunct Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

But illegal recruitment persisted even before the enactment of the 1974 Labor Code of the Philippines.

Corollary to the rise of taken-down social media pages was the rise of illegal recruitment cases handled by DMW. From 327 pages between 2022 and 2024, running figures show DMW handled 479 cases.

DMW also filled the year with anti-illegal recruitment (AIR) operations and surveillance activities, with some 992 of these surveillance activities happening over a 47-month period. 

These AIR surveillance activities resulted in the closure of 91 establishments under the DMW era.

DMW’s first 47 months yielded only 37 convictions from local courts.

The country also continues to be on its toes rescuing illegally-recruited and trafficked Filipinos working in cyber scam hubs in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar. This year alone, DMW assisted 2,021 victims —with 1,914 of them repatriated to the Philippines.

Recruitment sector leader Raquel Bracero revealed that Filipinos abroad use TikTok and Facebook to directly hire Filipinos in host countries.

Director Atty. Geraldine Marquez of DMW’s Migrant Workers Protection Bureau (MWPB) said that the Philippines’ anti-illegal recruitment and trafficking efforts are well in-place and respond to the realities of cyber-induced recruitment.

“Enhanced case handling has been there for a matter of time. Standardized protocols, unified digital case tracking systems, and strengthened capacities for cyber-enabled and cross-border trafficking ensure that (DMW’s) processes match the realities of modern-day exploitation,” Marquez said.