Warning up vs agencies collecting excessive fees
Recruitment agencies charging excessive fees on Taiwan-bound Filipino workers may soon find their permits suspended or revoked.
The Department of Labor and Employment said Tuesday that investigations are ongoing in preparation for the filing of appropriate cases against erring local agencies and their Taiwanese counterparts that have been exacting fees ranging from P50,000 to P190,000 from each job applicant.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion emphasized that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, an agency under the DoLE, allows recruiters to collect placement fees equivalent to only a month’s salary of the job contract worker.
Recruitment agencies found violating the POEA policy, he said, will have their license suspended or cancelled while their Taiwan-based counterparts will be blacklisted from recruiting Filipinos.
Brion said his office has received reports from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Taipei about increasing cases involving collection of excessive fees from OFWs.
The labor chief encouraged victims to come forward and file complaints against erring recruitment agencies with the POLO in Taiwan or the POEA.
Labor officers in Taipei, Taichung and Kaoshiung in Taiwan have been instructed to gather more complaints from victims to uncover the agencies charging excessive fees from Taiwan-bound Filipino workers, Brion said.
He noted that about 80 percent of the recruitment agencies so far complained of were requiring job applicants who could not pay the placement fee in full before departing for overseas deployment to sign a loan agreement covering the unpaid amount or to issue post-dated checks in favor of the agencies.
The agencies collect the unpaid fees through their brokers in Taiwan who, in turn, deduct monthly amortization from the salaries of the OFWs over six months to one year as loan payment.
Brion said Taiwan officials have already made representations with Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs to stop the collection of amortization fees from OFWs by brokers and other third parties.
Nonetheless, he said DoLE and POEA are determined to put a stop to the illegal practice by charging the erring agencies and their Taiwanese brokers.
Victims of erring agencies, he said, paid as much as NT$94, 363 (equivalent to about P119, 049) or six times bigger than the fees paid by OFWs in Taiwan hired under the special hiring program for Taiwan (SHPT).
Under the program, Filipino workers with proper skills and genuine credentials who pass all the requirements can apply for Taiwan jobs directly through the POEA.
Brion said that because Taiwanese employers prefer to hire workers using Taiwanese brokers and Philippine recruitment agencies, deployment through the SHPT reached only 5, 205 in the last 12 years.
In 2007, only 600 OFWs were deployed to Taiwan as direct hires through the SHPT. Beginning this year, Brion said POLOs and POEA hope to increase deployment targets under the program by five percent a year. – GMANews.TV
The Department of Labor and Employment said Tuesday that investigations are ongoing in preparation for the filing of appropriate cases against erring local agencies and their Taiwanese counterparts that have been exacting fees ranging from P50,000 to P190,000 from each job applicant.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion emphasized that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, an agency under the DoLE, allows recruiters to collect placement fees equivalent to only a month’s salary of the job contract worker.
Recruitment agencies found violating the POEA policy, he said, will have their license suspended or cancelled while their Taiwan-based counterparts will be blacklisted from recruiting Filipinos.
Brion said his office has received reports from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Taipei about increasing cases involving collection of excessive fees from OFWs.
The labor chief encouraged victims to come forward and file complaints against erring recruitment agencies with the POLO in Taiwan or the POEA.
Labor officers in Taipei, Taichung and Kaoshiung in Taiwan have been instructed to gather more complaints from victims to uncover the agencies charging excessive fees from Taiwan-bound Filipino workers, Brion said.
He noted that about 80 percent of the recruitment agencies so far complained of were requiring job applicants who could not pay the placement fee in full before departing for overseas deployment to sign a loan agreement covering the unpaid amount or to issue post-dated checks in favor of the agencies.
The agencies collect the unpaid fees through their brokers in Taiwan who, in turn, deduct monthly amortization from the salaries of the OFWs over six months to one year as loan payment.
Brion said Taiwan officials have already made representations with Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs to stop the collection of amortization fees from OFWs by brokers and other third parties.
Nonetheless, he said DoLE and POEA are determined to put a stop to the illegal practice by charging the erring agencies and their Taiwanese brokers.
Victims of erring agencies, he said, paid as much as NT$94, 363 (equivalent to about P119, 049) or six times bigger than the fees paid by OFWs in Taiwan hired under the special hiring program for Taiwan (SHPT).
Under the program, Filipino workers with proper skills and genuine credentials who pass all the requirements can apply for Taiwan jobs directly through the POEA.
Brion said that because Taiwanese employers prefer to hire workers using Taiwanese brokers and Philippine recruitment agencies, deployment through the SHPT reached only 5, 205 in the last 12 years.
In 2007, only 600 OFWs were deployed to Taiwan as direct hires through the SHPT. Beginning this year, Brion said POLOs and POEA hope to increase deployment targets under the program by five percent a year. – GMANews.TV
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