MANILA, 18 August 2006 — For better or worse, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) has been named to lead the campaign against illegal job recruitment activities in the Philippines, a responsibility once held by a discredited presidential task force.

The CFO’s new assignment is spelled out in Executive Order 548, titled “Creating A Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (TFAIR) Under The Commission On Filipinos Overseas,” which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed on Aug. 1.

CFO Chairman Dante Ang said the task force would include representatives from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) with assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The new task force will hold office at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) where it could coordinate with all other government agencies involved in the anti-illegal recruitment campaign.

“I have met with the other members of the task force and asked them to submit a list of their recommended members,” Ang told Arab News.

According to the executive order, the task force would be tasked to “develop and execute strategies and schemes” against illegal recruiters like the so-called “escort” services within the country’s international airports and other points of departure.

‘Ill Advised’

CFO insiders expressed doubts over the wisdom of placing such as tough campaign in the hands of their agency, which they said has always distanced itself from issues concerning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

One CFO official even said the president was “ill-advised” in issuing EO 548 because under the law, the commission could deal only with migrant Filipinos and their families and the wives of foreign nationals. “An EO cannot supersede a law,” the official said, adding, “I’m sure POEA and DOLE will raise a howl since they are in charge of anti illegal recruitment activities.”

Ang said, however, that the new task force would not diminish the role of the POEA, which he said is “more concerned about regulating recruitment activities of licensed recruitment agencies.”

While expressing surprise over the president’s choice of the CFO as lead agency, POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said, “I welcome the move because at least someone will focus on illegal recruitment.”

“Hopefully their efforts will be better because they will take care of illegal recruitment using tourist visas and other non-worker visas,” she said.

Baldoz also said there would now be a body to concentrate on the criminal aspect of illegal recruitment, which the POEA has been unable to do, that being not part of their mandate.

It would also be in charge of finding means to stop “syndicates responsible for tampering and sale of spurious passports and travel documents” and would then “ensure the prosecution of illegal recruiters, syndicates and protectors.”

The new task force was tasked with conducting surveillance and entrapment operations of persons alleged to be engaged in illegal recruitment and could facilitate the immediate investigation and speedy prosecution of cases involving illegal recruitment.

Ang said the new task force would take over from the operations of the former Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force (PAIRTIF) headed by Ramon Jaylo, a decorated former police officer who is now being investigated over complaints of illegal arrests.

Ang said he was not privy to the creation of the task force. “In fact, I was caught unawares. But I think it was because some of our constituents are being adversely affected,” he said. Ang also said this was apparently not a knee jerk reaction to reports that two out of three workers who came from Lebanon were undocumented due to the much-vaunted “escort service.”