MANILA – The Philippines is pushing for tighter safeguards on online recruitment across Southeast Asia as criminal groups exploit social media to lure jobseekers into human trafficking, forced labor and cross-border cyber-scam operations.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac raised the issue at the opening of the 19th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Forum on Migrant Labour (AFML) on Tuesday at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, where regional governments and labor groups discussed ways on how to make overseas employment safer.
“The rise of the digital platforms and remote work has provided opportunities for migrant workers, but at the same time, the same platforms are now used for misinformation, illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons that have led many into forced criminality,” Cacdac said.
He noted that recruitment scams often begin with fraudulent job offers on social media and that criminal syndicates use these offers to attract applicants, bind them through debt and channel them into unauthorized recruitment networks, exposing them to exploitation and forced participation in illegal activities.
“We are here to identify solutions that provide access to protection, remedy and support to migrant workers. The ultimate aim is to formulate and adopt recommendations that will ensure protection of migrant workers relative to online recruitment and associated risks,” he added.
The DMW said the two-day forum is examining regulatory gaps in cross-border online recruitment, the need to improve digital literacy among prospective migrant workers and cooperation with technology companies to identify and take down deceptive job advertisements.
The discussions also include possible partnerships with Meta, TikTok and Tech Against Trafficking to address the use of digital platforms for predatory recruitment.
Cacdac said ASEAN countries must also ensure that workers who fall victim to these schemes can obtain assistance and pursue justice.
Participants also tackled how to improve identification of trafficking victims, access to comprehensive legal aid, and cross-border grievance mechanisms.
Cacdac said these measures should cover migrant workers regardless of their legal status.
The Philippines is hosting the annual forum as chair of the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers for 2025–2026.
With the theme “Protection of Migrant Workers through Regular and Safe Migration Pathways,” the forum builds on ASEAN agreements promoting migrant workers’ rights and fair recruitment.
These include the 2007 Cebu Declaration, the 2017 ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers and the ASEAN Declaration on Fair, Ethical, and Sustainable Recruitment for Empowered Migrant Workers, which oppose charging workers recruitment fees and related costs.
The forum seeks to formulate recommendations for regional action against online recruitment abuses and improve protection for migrant workers throughout Southeast Asia. (PNA)
