Tacloban City (February 2) -- Be bright. Don't be victimized (Maging Matalino. Huwag Paloko).

This is the warning issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration as it cautioned the public on the proliferation of illegal recruiters. In order to avoid being victims of illegal recruiters the public must make sure that the recruiter has a license, has a job order and is authorized to recruit workers for overseas employment.

More so, POEA alerts the public on the modus operandi of illegal recruiters, first among which is the tourist worker scheme where the workers leave the country as tourists but are actually leaving for employment abroad. Another is the escort services scheme where workers are escorted at the airports and seaports and allowed to leave even without the required travel documents.

The blind ads scheme is still another where advertisements for overseas employment published in the dailies do not indicate the name of the recruiter but provides a PO Box to which applications are submitted. Related to the Blind ads is the By Correspondence Scheme where the applicants are encouraged to submit their requirements by mail together with seemingly minimal fee.

Sometimes, workers leave through the southern ports of exit where immigration control is lax. The usually leave on cargo ships or on boats. This is known as the Backdoor exit. Workers sometimes are made to leave under another name either using the name of another worker or through the "baklas system" or obtaining passports through fake birth certificates or other documents. Minors are usually deployed through this scheme of assumed identity.

In the direct hiring scheme, the workers are recruited directly by the foreign employer and deployed either as tourist or through any other illegal means. At times, workers are recruited and deployed as trainees on a training agreement. More often HRM students leaving in the guise of a traineeship program for hotels abroad but eventually landing in jobs in hotels/restaurant abroad.

At times workers leave as participants in seminars/sports event abroad but actually intend to leave there. The last scheme is the mail order bride where marriage is arranged by brokers between Filipino women and foreigners. The Filipino wife sometimes end up being a domestic helper to her husband and his family or in worst situations abroad.