By Rose B. Palacio

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Mindanao area center chief Francis Domingo said despite efforts of government to eradicate illegal recruitment, still, the problem remains a perennial one not only in Mindanao region but throughout the country.

We are doing our best to solve the recurrence of this problem with massive information activity and sustained drive in calling up for the public to coordinate with the POEA office to persons coming in to recruit in their areas, he said.

However, there are still parents or people especially in the provinces, who are easily enticed and have fallen prey by sweet-talking illegal recruiters, he said.

He stressed the importance of continuous information dissemination which plays a vital role in addressing this problem and at the same time reduce the possibility of child trafficking and flesh trading to other countries.

We have implemented a new scheme and created a set of rules and regulations covering the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in order to fast track transactions at the POEA office and shorten the long process when applying for travel documents, he said.

However, we require Filipinos going abroad to take a 3-day seminar for them to be equipped with adequate and correct information on the different values and culture of other countries abroad, he further said.

Domingo said POEA is trying to come up with additional guidelines that will ensure the safety and security of domestic workers abroad against abuses, maltreatment and sexual harassment in line with the President's agenda of protecting our OFWs and safeguarding their lives.