Many of the Filipinos sent back from the United Arab Emirates to the Philippines were victims of illegal recruitment, the Philippine Embassy in the UAE has said.

The Embassy said in a statement it has repatriated 1,198 Filipinos this year, including 821 who sought shelter at the Embassy, while the other 377 were individuals who walked in for assistance. Many were victims of illegal recruitment, it said.

In a recent case, nine Filipino women were offered jobs in Dubai via social media. However, when they arrived, they were told that there were no jobs for them – but there were job openings in Iraq.

The women were told they needed to pay US$3,000 for them to be allowed to go home. The Philippine Embassy in Baghdad rescued the women and officials are working to send them back to the Philippines.

On Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced that the latest batch of 97 Filipinos taking advantage of the current three-month amnesty had returned to the Philippines from Dubai. Each of the repatriates received financial assistance of 5,000 Philippine pesos (US$93) upon arrival in Manila.

The Philippine Embassy in UAE urged Filipinos who have overstayed in the Gulf and others who had absconded from former employers to use the amnesty to fix their status or return to the Philippines.

The UAE government is offering the amnesty until October 31.

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