My Near-Brush With People Smugglers

(NOTE: For anonymity, all the *names have been changed. The name of some of the **countries mentioned have also been changed into codes.)

In my long and eventful life as a writer, there had been a few instances in which I moonlighted.

For a couple of months, mornings only, I co-managed an Internet Café that my teenage daughter, a budding entrepreneur, established across the road from the university where her elder sister was teaching.

Twice in one year, I acted as buyer of Philippine woodcraft for export for my Canadian friends, a couple, who had a large gift shop in Toronto.

Then there was the occasional consultancy for a blood relative, *Doreen, who was a minor partner in a recruitment agency in Manila.

The wealth of knowledge and lessons I derived from those activities could fill a non-fiction book. I haven’t written any of those first-hand knowledge yet, until now, but I shall focus on my advisory role to Doreen.

Overseas job recruitment

Placement agencies for overseas jobs was big business in the Philippines at the time. It was no secret. And I was always updated with this issue, among many other issues local and international, being a news junkie.

Doreen, meanwhile, only read the news and policies related to recruiting Filipino workers for deployment overseas. She travelled a lot, interviewing applicants locally and meeting partner-recruiters abroad.

She was planning to put up her own agency based in Manila. One requirement, among many, was for her to establish overseas partner-agencies, with a steady demand for Filipino workers: nurses, caregivers, domestics, construction workers, even hairdressers and beauticians.

That was when she had to consult with me. Or realistically speaking, she needed me to deal with selected international work brokers, and assess the viability and profitability of potential overseas business partnership.

Nurses for Italy

The work broker with whom I discussed deploying nurses to Italy was *George. He was from **RST, a country in mainland Europe. George was very glib, like a car salesman. He laid out to me all requirements for the applicants and the processing of their applications. He assured me that he already had a contact in Italy.

After a lot of vetting, I determined that George had not fully established a firm commitment from his Italian contact. There was no telling that nursing jobs would be immediately available, nor proof that he was committed to setting up an office in Italy for the well-being of the deployed nurses. He was more focused on how much his and Doreen’s partnership would earn from placement fees, which was over the top.

My recommendation: No deal; I saw George as only intent in grabbing money from applicants.

Domestics for Singapore

The two work brokers in Singapore were of different nationalities. Each owned a small recruitment agency. In separate discussions with them, I sensed their enthusiasm to have another partner-recruiter in Manila. Both handed me documents, about six-inch thick each, to read and study.

After careful consideration, I found that the proposals of the two were fine – but only in relation to how the worker’s welfare, like health insurance, would be taken care of. I thank the Singaporean government for this, with its strict rules for local maid agencies.

My recommendation: No deal; the under-the-table placement fee equivalent to eight months’ salary of the worker was unacceptable and illegal.

Student visa for the UK

Talking with *Nadine was an experience. She was from **XYZ, a country in the Middle East, although from her posh English, I thought she was British. I was reminded of how some professors and lecturers in Auckland University, where I used to work, spoke.

Nadine’s business proposal baffled me at first. Our discussion was supposed to center on overseas job placement, meaning, approved applicants would hold work visa. It turned out that applicants would apply for a student visa in the UK to enable them to work.

Those on student visa (and who were actually studying) could work legally for 20 hours a week. According to Nadine, she had contacts in two learning institutions in the UK where student-visa applicants could lodge their student application.

After reading UK immigration policies (at the time), I found Nadine’s business proposal legitimate only with regards to the 20-hour-a-week work rule.

The cash outlay required of the Filipino applicant, however, was huge.

While a university degree requirement for the applicant would pose no issue, it was the tuition fee, living expenses and immigration fees that bothered me. And it bothered me a lot that finding that 20-hour-a-week stint would be the applicant's responsibility.

My recommendation: No deal; I saw Nadine’s business proposal as a simple and cruel exploitation of people who only wanted better job opportunities overseas. For a small fortune, she would just serve as facilitator or conduit towards the applicant being granted a student visa.

People exploiter

Before the police tag me, I would emphasize that the discussion years ago on this “business proposal” was done over the phone, not face-to-face. I did not know this person whom I will call Lucifer for the purposes of this article.

It was suggested to me on recommendation of a friend of a friend of a friend that I accept Lucifer’s call about a possible business deal.

Lucifer was from **OPQ, another country in Europe. He said that he was speaking for his group. I could only later deduce what group he represented.

He had a very thick accent. But I did get the gist of what he proposed:

(1) applicants would be charged a hefty sum for job placements in the UK,

(2) applicants would apply for visit/tourist visa, not work visa, and --

(3) upon arrival, they would be deployed in various restaurant jobs scattered across the UK.

It took me two seconds to realize the illegality of every step of what he was proposing.

He was a people smuggler.

I was so angry and upset. I felt dirty, just having to speak (on the phone) with someone with criminal intent.

Doreen, I thought, was in XYZ on business at the time. But since I could not wait to apprise her of the result of my discussion with Lucifer, I called her. She was in Cairo, it turned out, on the way back to Manila. And before I could say my piece, she ranted about the filth in the toilet at the airport.

“No filthier,” I cut her off, curtly, “than that business proposal from Lucifer.”

Then I said I was done with my role as her consultant in her recruitment business.

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For all the gold in the world

My sojourn in the world of overseas job placement provided me with loads of materials for my creative fiction and non-fiction projects, past and future.

More importantly, it also gave me a glimpse into my inner self, my inner soul.

That for all the gold in the world, I would not be seduced to corrupt my humanity by involving myself in exploiting people who only wanted better job opportunities overseas.

Looking back, I thought I had done a good deed. But no-one has congratulated me for choosing what was rightful.

(My relative, Doreen, heeded all my no-deal advice. She, too, saw the wicked side of exploiting people for the devil’s money.)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Thank you for reading.

It was a relief for me to share what I had learned, first-hand, from the shady practice done years ago by a handful of overseas job recruiters.

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