Binay creates task force vs illegal recruitment

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay created yesterday an inter-agency task force to curb illegal recruitment and combat human trafficking.

The task force anti-illegal recruitment was created after Binay met with representatives of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Binay said these agencies will comprise the task force headed by the Office of the Vice President.

“We must help each other and exchange information to fight illegal recruitment and human trafficking in the country,” he said.

Binay said the Philippines has been put on the Tier 2 Watch List in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 of the US Department of State.

“The Philippine government did not show much progress in prosecuting and convicting perpetrators of labor trafficking,” he quoted the State Department report.

MIAA general manager Jose Angel Aquino Honrado said they only get hold of the victims of illegal recruitment but not the illegal recruiters themselves.