EDITORIAL - They are victims too

Earlier this month the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported stopping four Vietnamese “tourists” from entering the country. The reason? They had come here before and worked here as illegal workers.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the four as Truong Quang Than, 28; Bui Van Chi, 36; Ngo Dan Tuong, 22; and Nguyen Hoang Minh Huy, 19. The four arrived together from Hanoi and claimed they were returning visitors.

But after the four gave conflicting statements, the BI probed further and found out they had actually been here before and worked, some of them as long as seven months.

It’s always easy to think of foreigners willing to work here illegally, even those who were tricked into doing so, as the bad guys, someone who is robbing a Filipino of a job he or she can do and earn a living from. However, we must not forget that they are victims too.

Because they are not officially listed as legal employees they have no protections from their embassy should things go south. And we are sure there is no shortage of people who are willing to take advantage of those who don’t know the lay of the land, don’t know whom to turn to when they get into trouble, or don’t even speak the language in the first place.

Then there is always the possibility that they will become victims of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and their desperate situation becomes even more entrenched. And, as we have seen with what happened in the POGOs in Bamban and Porac, they might even get tortured or killed, with their poor families being none the wiser as to what happened to them.

Their situation isn’t really unlike what some of our fellow Filipinos face when they make that life-altering decision to go abroad to find work, even the sketchy kind, or the kind that comes from recruiters who aren’t exactly trustworthy.

There they are faced with the same situation those who come to work here illegally do; no protection, high risk of exploitation, and slim chances of changing their desperate situation. Even the risk of an anonymous death.

Before we condemn, demean, or think ill of those who come here desperate for work, it might help to think of our fellow Filipinos doing exactly the same somewhere else.