The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has once again reminded Filipino overseas job applicants to be wary of online scams especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia issued this reminder as he noted that cases of online job scams have increased while community quarantine restrictions remain in place.
“Bahagi ng consequence ng pandemic na ito ay ang pag-angat ng mga scam, online scam (Part of the consequence of this pandemic is the rise of scams, online scams),” Olalia said.
Olalia said that the POEA has been monitoring cases of online job scams. “Dahil po rito, ang POEA ay naglabas ng mga labor advisory na ina-identify natin ang mga scammers na 'yan (Because of this, POEA has issued labor advisory that we identify those scammers),” he added.
He said that the POEA currently implements online registration. The link can be found in http://poea.gov.ph where interested applicants can find information on job vacancies and other related updates. “Pwede nilang i-click 'yun at mayroon kaming e-registration para pumasok sa platform na iyon (They can click on that and we have e-registration to enter that platform),” he added.
Last December, Olalia said that the POEA and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) held an online jobs fair in line with the government’s efforts to curb the rising cases of online job scams. “’Yung link ay makikita sa POEA website para hindi na maging opportunity ito sa mga illegal recruiters (The link can be found on the POEA website so that it will no longer be an opportunity for illegal recruiters),” he added.
Since most online scammers use social media sites such to lure their victims, Olalia said the POEA has also coordinated with platforms such as Facebook to take down posts on bogus job offers for OFWs.
Olalia noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically decreased deployment and displaced many OFWs. Citing data from POEA, he noted that over 395,000 OFWs have been repatriated.
In the coming months, Olalia said that there might be more OFWs who will be displaced and repatriated due to the impact of COVID-19 in various destination countries.
Olalia assured that the POEA will continue to assist repatriated and displaced OFWs. “Mayroon kaming mga tulong na inihanda lalong-lalo na roon sa mga nagnanais na magkaroon ng additional skills, tayo ay nakikipag-ugnayan sa TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) (We are providing them especially for those who want to have additional skills that is why we are coordinating with TESDA).”