Illegal recruitment

The City Legal Office has given its thumbs up July 20 to the proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the city government and the Philippine Overseas Workers Administration (POEA) to intensify the anti-illegal recruitment campaign in the city.

The legal opinion said the MOA is "free from any legal infirmity."

I can now sponsor the measure in our next session on August 7. There would be no session on July 31.

If approved, the city would become the first LGU outside Metro Manila to forge the same pact with the POEA. Davao City is tagged as one of the leading recruitment areas in the country and also considered as a key human trafficking centers in southern Philippines.

POEA Mindanao Center chief Francis Domingo has been working hard to make the city safe for aspiring overseas workers.

Three years ago, I also sponsored an Ordinance requiring non-Davao City-based recruitment agencies to register with the city government. This way, we are able to track their activities and their recruits. Yet, illegal recruitment remains rampant.

Sometime five years ago, I also sponsored a Resolution urging the POEA to assign one of its Deputy Administrators to be based in Davao City. I remember Presidential Assistant for Mindanao and now head of the Peace Process, Secretary Jesus Dureza, endorsing the measure. Perhaps, the POEA needs to revisit this proposal and promote Domingo as full time Deputy Administrator.