POEA revokes recruiter's license

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on July 28 cancelled the license of Experts Placement Agency, Inc., which was found to have attempted to send four female workers to Lebanon using Dubai, United Arab Emirates as jump-off point.

Administrator Hans Cacdac said Experts Placement Agency, Inc. tried to deploy 

the four OFWs as household service workers in Lebanon by having their papers 

processed at the POEA using the agency’s existing job orders approved for Dubai.

The workers filed their complaints against the agency after they were barred from 

boarding their plane at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by officers of the 

Bureau of Immigration’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU).

Cacdac said the TCEU intercepted the workers because they initially presented 

travel papers for Dubai but upon further inspection and questioning, they admitted 

that they were actually bound for Lebanon. Documents retrieved from the workers 

showed that two of them were supposed to work in Dubai as helpers, and the other 

two as archives clerk and sewer respectively.

In his decision, Cacdac found Experts Placement Agency liable for

misrepresentation. The POEA 2002 Rules and Regulations Governing the 

Recruitment and Employment of Land-based Overseas Workers prohibits a 

recruitment agency from engaging in the acts of misrepresentation such as 

furnishing or publishing any false notice, information, and document in relation to 

recruitment and employment.

“This is a clear case of re-processing which constitutes misrepresentation

considering that the workers’ destination and employer are different from what 

appear on their POEA-processed documents,” Cacdac said.