First of 2 parts

On October 7, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the Philippines — the first time a South Korean has undertaken a state visit to Manila in over a decade.

There were numerous deals Yoon and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed that aimed to strengthen the two countries’ 75-year-old bilateral ties, including agreements on maritime cooperation, economic innovation, and energy. But beyond economics and security, the two countries’ relationship runs deeper, as seen in cultural exchanges and migration.

There is no question that South Korean culture has captured the imagination of the ordinary Filipino. Regardless of age and socioeconomic status, Filipinos have become fascinated with Korea, and one way or another, have come across k-pop, or likely have watched at least one k-drama. Analysts and academics call this soft power. South Korea has used cultural policies as part of an economic strategy, and has grown its attractiveness to people, including migrant workers, across the globe.

Among them was Marco* from Paete, Laguna who, in early 2023, came across a social media post from the Paete local government unit (LGU) about an opportunity to work as a farmer in Korea.

Marco had never worked abroad before. It was his wife Melanie* who worked overseas, while Marco took care of their young children back home. But Marco could not pass up a chance to earn P85,000 a month, or a little over 2 million Korean won as provided by the contract he signed. It was a far cry from the P15,000 he earned working as a security guard.

Expenses before departure reached up to P60,000, scraped from the family’s savings. These included visa expenses, travel insurance, and a medical checkup. This was separate from the P70,000 in total processing fees Melanie had to wire to a Philippine bank account designated by a team of Korean brokers in the Philippines after Marco was already deployed.

As one of the first workers to be deployed from Paete, Marco undertook an “overwhelming” bond agreement. If the workers did not finish their contracts, their assigned “guarantor” would have to cough up P500,000.

After signing the bond, Marco was on his way to Korea in April 2023.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of 2021, some 38,000 Filipinos are living in Korea, and over 33,000 Koreans are living in the Philippines. But sometimes, it’s smoke and mirrors. Behind this fascination for Korean culture are ever-prevalent reports of modern slavery among migrant workers.

South Korea has turned to migrant labor to grow its economy. In 2017, the country began its Seasonal Worker Program (SWP), where foreign migrants work in the country’s agricultural sector over several months to address labor shortages during the country’s busy farming and fishing seasons.

The accident

In Yanggu, a chilly county near the border with North Korea, Marco planted chili peppers and watermelon, among other crops. It was physically exhausting, and even if his contract stipulated that he would work eight hours a day, he often worked longer — usually up to 11 hours. He was not consistently paid for overtime work.

“Sometimes our boss wanted the work done as quickly as possible. There were times we’d barely have a minute to relax after eating, and then it was time to go back to work,” he said.

While his supervisor was strict, Marco said he was not cruel. Work days were filled with hustle and grind, but on off days, they would stroll through the city, or catch an occasional movie.

A few months into Marco’s contract, his supervisor asked if he and his fellow farmer could be “borrowed” by a friend who needed extra hands for his corn harvest. It was Sunday, supposedly their day off, but they felt compelled to obey. After all, they were offered an offset day off.

As lunch time neared, Marco and his fellow workers boarded a vehicle at the top of a hill so they could go eat together. While the vehicle was parked, the Filipino worker at the driver’s seat alighted from the vehicle. The workers inside slowly felt the vehicle start to move backwards, towards the edge of the steep hill.

Marco suspects that the driver forgot to secure the hand brake while the vehicle was parked. With all possible effort, the driver tried to prevent it from falling, but because the hill was so steep and momentum was gaining, the vehicle fell, taking with it the workers inside.

“All of us flung out of the vehicle, but I sustained the worst injuries. My eyesight went dark. I couldn’t breathe. They pulled me aside and gave me water to drink. When I tried to stand up, I was shocked by how much pain I had in my shoulder,” said Marco.

He later found out that the accident led to the protrusion of his collarbone.

With no hospitals around able to give him the medical attention he needed, his supervisors decided to take him to the hospital the next day. Marco had no choice but to endure the night, sitting upright with excruciating pain from an untreated broken bone.

The next day, in a hospital hours away from Yanggu, Marco underwent an operation alone, with only video calls with Melanie keeping him sane.

No LGU assistance

As Marco recovered, the supervisor told him to modify the story of the accident. If his other handlers asked what happened, he should say that the Filipino driver was not at fault. In the modified story, Marco exited a vehicle, slipped, and broke his shoulder.

“He advised that I tell that story instead so that the Filipino driver won’t get in trouble with Korean law. I felt bad for him, so I did what he said.”

Back home, Marco’s wife was angry. Melanie didn’t like how Marco was advised by a supervisor to tell a false story, and rid someone of accountability.

“I complained to the LGU. I told them what really happened… But they didn’t believe me, his wife. They only believed what the broker said,” said Melanie. According to her, they never received any assistance from the LGU following the incident. 

Many workers, some with worse circumstances, find it difficult to speak up. Civil society organization Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), which has monitored SWP abuses in various provinces, provided Rappler information about other workers’ cases, such as one who was deprived of drinking water before work was completed. He observed one of his fellow workers’ toenails turn black because he was forced to wear tight work shoes. 

Physical and verbal abuse, as well as what the workers perceived to be arbitrary termination, were also common. They similarly paid thousands of pesos in processing fees. We attempted to reach out to these workers, but received no response.

Seasonal workers

Filipino workers began to be deployed under the SWP in 2022. Back then, its implementation was done purely through local government sister agreements, where a Philippine LGU coordinates with an LGU in Korea when sending its people to work in their town.

Because national authorities in charge of the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were not in the loop, the program was marred with irregularities and abuses, which local governments enabled with the help of Korean brokers.

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) only stepped in to monitor deployment around November 2023, after reports of abuse were exposed in Congress and the media.

The Philippines is only one of various developing countries sending their citizens to work as farmers in Korea. Others include Vietnam, Nepal, Laos, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan. 

These were the countries of seasonal workers surveyed by civil society organizations Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK) and the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) in a report released February 2024. The study had 89 respondents — around a third of them being Filipino — who reported various types of abuse.

Licensed by DMW?

In the recruitment of OFWs not directly hired, the Philippine government has this basic principle: Agencies can only recruit Filipinos for employment abroad if they are licensed by the DMW.

Anyone can check if an agency is licensed to recruit by looking it up on the database on the DMW website, updated every two hours. Rappler found that the Korean agency facilitating the SWP in Paete is not on this database, nor does it have an office in an address it lists in documents of at least one worker. 

In an interview with Rappler, Paete municipal administrator Carlos Miguel Cosico said that Korean company One Consulting Inc. (OCI) introduced the SWP to their town.

For the town of 25,000, it seemed like an exciting opportunity. Farming was one of the municipality’s main industries apart from carving, which Paete is known for. This would provide employment opportunities for their people, and Mayor Ronald Cosico saw no reason to refuse OCI.

In December 2022, with facilitation from OCI, Paete and Yanggu signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that sealed their partnership in the SWP. 

OCI processed all the documents for workers to leave the country. All that Paete had to do was find workers who were interested. Paete, together with neighboring towns like Siniloan, Pakil, and Pangil, which also had SWPs, endorsed workers to each other whenever their slots were full.

Administrator Cosico, the mayor’s son, confirmed to Rappler that the town had its first seasonal workers sign the document stipulating a P500,000-bond before being deployed to Korea. However, he said that this was meant only to discourage workers from staying in the country undocumented.

“It’s just an assurance bond put in place so they won’t abscond from their employers,” said Cosico, adding that they have never implemented it, and no longer have workers sign it.

When the DMW stepped in to monitor deployment, OCI remained part of the recruitment process of Paete seasonal workers.

“I represent [OCI] in their papers. They give me the documents, and I send the emails to the DMW,” Cosico said.

Conflict of interest

Cosico said he does not believe that representing the agency is a conflict of interest. We asked if he would be willing to take accountability if the agency was linked to wrongdoing, but he did not respond to the question.

“Our only goal here is to help the people in our town. Nothing else — just providing employment opportunities, no vested interest. We have not seen even a shadow of profit from this program,” he said.

Cosico said the LGU is still working to develop a system that no longer needs the involvement of brokers. For now, OCI’s participation is the only way Paete can deploy workers to Korea. However, as of September 26, the LGU had yet to meet with the DMW regarding OCI’s participation.

He also believes that if there are large sums of money involved in the deployment process, it is still up to the workers if they wish to agree to such an arrangement.

“If there is any money involved, it’s a mutual agreement between OCI and the farmers, which we, at the LGU, are aware of. Still, the money never goes through us,” he said.

Cosico added that while there may be some workers with concerns, “majority” of their farmers return home “happy.”

“They enjoyed earning a good salary, and working in a different country. Farmers’ happiness is simple: to earn a good living…I can say the majority, almost 90%, return home without complaints.”

Rappler has tried to reach out to OCI through contact details given to us by the Paete LGU. Its representatives Choi Yoon-ji and Lim Jin-ho have not responded. We will update this story once they do.

We also attempted to find OCI’s office address listed in a draft of a memorandum of agreement it had with a worker — a copy of which was acquired by Rappler from CMA. In the draft agreement, OCI’s office address in the Philippines was listed as Block 15, Phase 3, CEZ (Cavite Economic Zone), Rosario, Cavite. We went to the address on September 4, but local police confirmed that no such office named One Consulting Inc. exists in the CEZ, which is a site for various factories.

Korean embassy

Meanwhile, in response to Rappler’s inquiries about OCI and reports of Koreans being sued in relation to the program, the Korean embassy in the Philippines spoke in broad strokes. It highlighted how the SWP operated based on MOUs, which include provisions related to the protection of workers’ rights and joint inspections by relevant authorities to investigate issues like wage delays and human rights violations.

“The Korean Embassy in the Philippines plays a limited role in issuing visas based on the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance provided by the Ministry of Justice,” said Kim Kyongsu of the Korean embassy in an email on October 21.

“We kindly ask for your understanding that we may not be able to respond to questions beyond the scope of the embassy’s responsibilities,” Kim added.

The embassy said that if we had information on illegal activities related to the SWP, they would report it to the DMW and the Korean Ministry of Justice.

The Philippine government has often highlighted how serious it is about curbing illegal recruitment of OFWs — from putting in strict guidelines from pre-departure to repatriating workers and suing illegal recruiters. But the question remains whether all exploited workers, especially those whose cases are not highlighted in the media, achieve justice. (To be continued) – with reports from Pierre dela Cruz/Rappler.com

NEXT: Away from spotlight, illegally recruited OFWs find aid, justice elusive

*Names have been changed at the workers’ request for privacy. Quotes have been translated to English for brevity.