MANILA, Philippines — Philippine authorities are investigating a suspected illegal recruitment and human trafficking network after 24 overseas Filipino workers detained in Russia for more than nine months were repatriated home, the Department of Migrant Workers said Monday.
The workers were released following a personal appeal by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN Summit in Kazan last week, DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said in a radio interview.
Cacdac said preliminary interviews revealed that 18 of the 24 workers had prior records with the agency, indicating they had previously worked abroad — including in Hong Kong, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — before ending up in Russia. The remaining six had no such records, suggesting they traveled directly from the Philippines.
All 24 workers were found to have been employed as cleaners in Yakutsk, a remote city in Russia’s Far East roughly eight hours by air from Moscow, near the country’s Asian frontier.
“The incidents were different, the methods of recruitment varied, but they all ended up there working in Yakutsk,” Cacdac said, adding that investigators have identified what appears to be a deliberate pattern of targeting Filipinos for cleaning jobs in the region.
Among the cases highlighted was that of two domestic workers who were recruited while employed in Hong Kong. Cacdac said one worker paid 200,000 Philippine pesos to a recruiter, another paid 150,000 pesos, while a third had wages garnished upon arrival in Russia to cover recruitment fees.
“It’s not a good scenario, in the sense that they are all potential victims of human trafficking,” Cacdac said.
DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said most of the workers bypassed official migration channels, entering Russia on tourist visas or through arrangements brokered by illegal recruiters.
“That’s why most of them are victims of illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons,” Olalia said.
The repatriated workers are currently under the care of the DMW, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other government agencies as officials build cases against those allegedly responsible for luring them abroad through irregular channels.
Olalia said authorities are collecting affidavits and sworn statements from the workers before moving to file charges and make arrests.
“Once we get the affidavits and sworn statements of our victims, then we will file and arrest these persons,” he said.
The Philippines is one of the world’s largest exporters of labor, with an estimated 10 million nationals working abroad. The government has long battled illegal recruitment syndicates that exploit migrant workers seeking better economic opportunities overseas.
