Affidavit of support requirement breeds corruption- Migrante chapter in UAE

Affidavit of support requirement breeds corruption- Migrante chapter in UAE

“We are continuously receiving complaints from OFWs whose relatives were victimized by an extortion gang in the NAIA. These extortionists demand to be shown the AOS, but afterwards went on to ask for money.” – Migrante
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Instead of being a measure to prevent human trafficking, the Department of Foreign Affairs’ “Affidavit of Support” (AOS) requirement is becoming an instrument of corruption.

Several Filipino workers groups in the United Arab Emirates headed by the Dubai chapter of Migrante International Migrante-UAE is intensifying its campaign to have the AOS requirement, which the DFA is demanding from all visiting relatives of overseas Filipino workers based in the United Arab Emirates and other countries, removed.

Since July 12, 2010, OFWs securing an affidavit of support for their relatives from the Philippine consulate are required to be present even if they filed their visit visa at the UAE Immigration through travel agencies. They are also required to have their affidavit of support in red ribbon. The document has to be notarized at the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and it costs around P1,000 (US$23.25).

Last year, Migrante-UAE initiated public discussions among Filipino groups in Dubai as part of its campaign to oppose the AOS requirement. In the next few weeks, the group will engage in a petition signing campaign, the results of which it will present to the Philippine consulate in Dubai. It also intends to send copies to Malacañang and the House of Representatives.

According to the DFA, the AOS aims to put an end to human trafficking and illegal deployment of OFWS through unscrupulous recruitment agencies. Nhel Morona, Migrante-UAE Secretary-general said the AOS requirement was “nothing but a form of legalized ‘kotong’ or mulcting.

A useless document

“It’s a useless document. It won’t stop human traffickers from their illegal activities, but it will breed extortion activities,” he said.

Morona cited reports his group received sometime on May 2011 about a group of passengers who boarded a flight from Manila to Dubai with a stopover in Hong Kong . They were supposedly asked to pay grease money by immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) when they discovered that the passengers were all on a visitor’s visa. He also said there was a Filipina nurse who was forced to hand out P25,000 (US$581) allegedly to agents of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in NAIA so she would be allowed to fly back to Dubai on a visitor’s visa..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/09/28/affidavit-of-support-requirement-breeds-corruption-migrante-chapter-in-uae/