An alliance of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in the Middle East Tuesday said that the worsening unemployment situation and poverty in the country pushes workers to work in war-torn countries like Afghanistan. Migrante-Middle East said that there are still a considerable number of migrant workers in Afghanistan and in Iraq despite the deployment ban imposed by the Philippine government.

“Millions of desperate Filipinos are willing to gamble just to land a job in war-stricken places than to see their families die of hunger and poverty in the Philippines,” Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said. “Why? The present wage earned by our local workers is not enough to compensate the high cost of living in the country,” he said.

Monterona also said that the situation of local workers is being exploited by recruitment agencies. He said that they have been receiving reports of agencies that are still deploying workers to Afghanistan and Iraq using the Qatar and Oman as entry points.

“We have been receiving reports that Overseas Employment Certificates are being issued to those who are using their tourist and visit visas once they have entered the United Arab Emirates. This is highly irregular,” he said.