Pay up! Lending firm tells duped RP drivers
MANILA, Philippines - After returning home penniless from Dubai, the 137 aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now being 'harassed' by a lending company to pay up the loans they used to process their non-existent jobs as bus drivers.
Rey Salas, one of the Filipino drivers, told GMANews.TV that agents from RJJ Lacaba Financing Company are demanding them to pay the P150,000 they used to process their employment to Dubai. Salas said the lending company threatened them of jail time should they fail next week to pay up the initial P27,000 of their loan.
Salas was told by his recruiter, CYM International, to loan money from RJJ Lacaba.
"But what do we pay them with? They’ve already sucked our pockets dry," Salas said.
Like the rest of the 137 Filipino bus drivers, Salas had to shell out more than a month of his promised salary in Dubai just to process his papers and facilitate his employment there.
Former Labor Undersecretary Susan Ople, of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization assisting distressed OFWs, said they will be lodging a complaint against the lending company to suspend its collection of the loans.
Ople said they are already readying a class suit against RJJ Lacaba and CYM.
"They came home without jobs, without money but with a lot of debts to pay," she said.
Marvin Aremado, one of the duped bus drivers, sent a text to Ople just before the Wednesday press conference saying how harassed they felt after an agent of RJJ Lacaba called his wife the night before informing them that they’ve been delayed in paying two months of their debt with the lending agency.
"We are very, very pressured," Aremado said.
Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, who is representing the 137 Filipino drivers, said he is now drafting the case against the recruiter and the lending company, which he suspected connived to lure the workers into paying the exorbitant P150,000. Robles wants the debt of the OFWs waived for the meantime.
"This is large-scale illegal recruitment. The fees exacted from them are more than what is stipulated under the law," Robles said adding that only one month of a migrant worker’s salary should have been asked by the recruiter.
Robles did not specify how much in damages they would sue CYM for but said it should be enough to cover for the moral damages inflicted to the 137 Filipinos – some of whom were even forced to scavenge for food. [See: Duped Pinoys scavenge for food in Dubai’s garbage]
CYM International Services and Placement Agency, Inc. promised that they could earn as much as 5,200 Dh (roughly P67,000) per month at Dubai’s government transport agency – the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
But when the job never came three months later, some of them were forced to scavenge.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency had recently placed CYM under preventive suspension, and set the first hearing on the case on May 5.
Newly-inducted ABAKADA Party-list Representative Jonathan de la Cruz filed House Resolution No. 1118 on Monday calling for a House inquiry into the recruitment scam. He also called for the cancellation of CYM’s contract.
"This is my first resolution as a lawmaker because I empathize with the situation of the drivers," De la Cruz said.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, chair of the committee on labor and employment, sought a hold departure order against the management and owners of both companies.
The 137 Filipino bus drivers were recruited by CYM International last November and were promised jobs in Dubai. But upon arriving in the emirate, the Filipinos were told to stay in a two-story apartment in front of a garbage dumpsite until they were trained for work.
After months of not having their promised jobs, the Filipino bus drivers resorted to scavenging for scrap metals to sell for food. - Mark Joseph H. Ubalde, GMANews.TV
Rey Salas, one of the Filipino drivers, told GMANews.TV that agents from RJJ Lacaba Financing Company are demanding them to pay the P150,000 they used to process their employment to Dubai. Salas said the lending company threatened them of jail time should they fail next week to pay up the initial P27,000 of their loan.
Salas was told by his recruiter, CYM International, to loan money from RJJ Lacaba.
"But what do we pay them with? They’ve already sucked our pockets dry," Salas said.
Like the rest of the 137 Filipino bus drivers, Salas had to shell out more than a month of his promised salary in Dubai just to process his papers and facilitate his employment there.
Former Labor Undersecretary Susan Ople, of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization assisting distressed OFWs, said they will be lodging a complaint against the lending company to suspend its collection of the loans.
Ople said they are already readying a class suit against RJJ Lacaba and CYM.
"They came home without jobs, without money but with a lot of debts to pay," she said.
Marvin Aremado, one of the duped bus drivers, sent a text to Ople just before the Wednesday press conference saying how harassed they felt after an agent of RJJ Lacaba called his wife the night before informing them that they’ve been delayed in paying two months of their debt with the lending agency.
"We are very, very pressured," Aremado said.
Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, who is representing the 137 Filipino drivers, said he is now drafting the case against the recruiter and the lending company, which he suspected connived to lure the workers into paying the exorbitant P150,000. Robles wants the debt of the OFWs waived for the meantime.
"This is large-scale illegal recruitment. The fees exacted from them are more than what is stipulated under the law," Robles said adding that only one month of a migrant worker’s salary should have been asked by the recruiter.
Robles did not specify how much in damages they would sue CYM for but said it should be enough to cover for the moral damages inflicted to the 137 Filipinos – some of whom were even forced to scavenge for food. [See: Duped Pinoys scavenge for food in Dubai’s garbage]
CYM International Services and Placement Agency, Inc. promised that they could earn as much as 5,200 Dh (roughly P67,000) per month at Dubai’s government transport agency – the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
But when the job never came three months later, some of them were forced to scavenge.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency had recently placed CYM under preventive suspension, and set the first hearing on the case on May 5.
Newly-inducted ABAKADA Party-list Representative Jonathan de la Cruz filed House Resolution No. 1118 on Monday calling for a House inquiry into the recruitment scam. He also called for the cancellation of CYM’s contract.
"This is my first resolution as a lawmaker because I empathize with the situation of the drivers," De la Cruz said.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, chair of the committee on labor and employment, sought a hold departure order against the management and owners of both companies.
The 137 Filipino bus drivers were recruited by CYM International last November and were promised jobs in Dubai. But upon arriving in the emirate, the Filipinos were told to stay in a two-story apartment in front of a garbage dumpsite until they were trained for work.
After months of not having their promised jobs, the Filipino bus drivers resorted to scavenging for scrap metals to sell for food. - Mark Joseph H. Ubalde, GMANews.TV
Comments