OFWs warned vs agency luring workers to Poland
MANILA, Philippines - Citing the ordeal of 96 Filipino workers who were duped by their recruiter, Vice President Noli De Castro on Saturday warned aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to be wary of an agency recruiting workers to Poland.
De Castro issued the warning after talking to some of the workers who accused their recruiter, Eureka Personnel Management Services, of charging excessive placement fees and of contract substitution.
“Sana ‘yung mga kababayan natin diyan baka kayo’y nag-apply sa Eureka papuntang Poland, ay teka muna ho, pigilan muna ninyo dahil baka mapasama kayo sa naging experience ng ating kababayan na walang nangyari sa kanilang binayaran, walang nangyari sa kanilang trabahong naghihintay sa Poland," he said during his radio program “Para Sa Iyo, Bayan," on Saturday morning.
[I hope that our fellow Filipinos will think twice before applying to Eureka, they might end up experiencing what the 96 OFWs did. They weren’t paid properly, nothing good came out from their work in Poland.]
De Castro subsequently ordered the Task Force Against Illegal Recruiters (Tfair), which he heads, to file the appropriate criminal charges against Eureka.
The lure
One of the victims said during the program that they first learned Eureka was recruiting workers for a glass-making company in Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland through friends and the Internet.
With the lure of a monthly salary of $500 to $750 or about P24,000 to P36,000, and free food and lodging, the workers were attracted.
“Pagkatapos po nun, siyempre po nung natanggap namin iyon naisip namin Europe ho iyon, pagkakataon, opportunity [When we received that offer, we immediately thought ‘That’s Europe, this would be a good opportunity’]," the OFW told De Castro.
The catch
But only after paying their placement fees did they find out what the catch was.
The workers told De Castro that when they checked with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), they saw that their monthly salary had been changed to $346.66 or about P16,000.
“Malayo ho sa inalok samen, dahil kung nalaman po namin, hindi na ho naming papatusin [It was very far from what was offered to us, if we only knew, we wouldn’t have taken their offer]," said one of the OFWs.
But he said they had no choice but to still go to Poland because they had already paid Eureka almost P50,000 in fees.
“Kaya no choice kami, sabi naming baka nga formality lang, nagastusan na kami, pumayag na rin kami [That’s why we had no choice, we were told it was just a formality but we’ve already spent money so went on with it]," he said.
Moreover, the agency also reportedly made the workers sign a contract saying that they would have to pay P20,000 as fine if they do not go forth with the job.
Hell in Poland
And that wasn’t the end of it.
When they arrived in Poland, their recruiter’s counterpart allegedly made them sign another contract reducing their pay to the equivalent of P12,000 to P14,000 – half of the very first salary offer.
Aside from the pay, the workers were assigned to live in a container van at a time even though it was winter time in Poland during that time.
“Ang accommodation namin ay container van, nilagyan lang nila ng walling, may heater po kami pero hindi katulad nung normal, hindi pa naman ho kami sanay sa lamig [Our accommodation was just a container van, they just installed some walling, there was a heater but it wasn’t like the normal one, and we weren’t used to the cold]," said one of the workers.
Their meals, likewise, just consisted of hard bread, porridge and even stale rice.
Moreover, they were reportedly made to work alongside inmates. "We were scared because the inmates did not seem to like us," one of the workers said on De Castro's radio program.
Escape
Unable to bear the hardship, 21 of the 96 workers decided to ask help from the Philippine Consulate in Warsaw, Poland.
“Ang nangyari nung time na iyon, nag-e-email na kami sa gobyerno [What happened during that time was that we e-mailed the government]," said one of the workers.
Aside from the government agencies, he said they also sent e-mails to Senator Manuel Villar and De Castro to ask for help.
It was the consulate, however, that helped the workers escape from their employer’s hands.
All in all, 67 of the 96 workers recruited by Eureka have returned to the Philippines. Their repatriation tickets were shouldered by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The 29 others reportedly decided to stay on and finish their contract, worried that they would be jobless when they return home.
Ordeal far from over
The workers who returned home, however, said their ordeal is still far from over as Eureka has filed breach of contract raps against each one of them.
"Kami na nga ang nawalan ng kwarta, gusto pa kaming idiin (We have lost money here, but we are being squeezed some more)," one of the workers said.
Lesson learned
De Castro directed the Tfair to file charges of excessive fee placement and contract substitution against Eureka and assured the victims that Tfair will help them fight the recruitment agency, but appealed on their cooperation.
“Dito kapag tinutulungan namin, walang atrasan ito [When we help someone, we don’t back down]," he said.
He said the workers themselves should have noticed that something was wrong when they found that their contract had been changed.
“Lesson na rin ‘yan na nakita na ninyo sa kontrata ninyo na may problema na, dito palang nagreklamno na kayo sa amin eh [It’s a lesson to all that if you see a problem in the contract, you should immediately complain about it to the authorities]," he said.
He expressed relief that the case of Eureka had already reached his office because 400 more workers were supposed to be deployed by the agency.
Eureka, whose office address is located at 1913 Leon Guinto Street Ermita, Manila, could not be immediately reached for comment.
A search on the Internet showed that it was in the POEA's list of top land-based agencies in 2005.
The POEA, however, has suspended it from processing documents for OFWs as a result of the Poland fiasco. - GMANews.TV
De Castro issued the warning after talking to some of the workers who accused their recruiter, Eureka Personnel Management Services, of charging excessive placement fees and of contract substitution.
“Sana ‘yung mga kababayan natin diyan baka kayo’y nag-apply sa Eureka papuntang Poland, ay teka muna ho, pigilan muna ninyo dahil baka mapasama kayo sa naging experience ng ating kababayan na walang nangyari sa kanilang binayaran, walang nangyari sa kanilang trabahong naghihintay sa Poland," he said during his radio program “Para Sa Iyo, Bayan," on Saturday morning.
[I hope that our fellow Filipinos will think twice before applying to Eureka, they might end up experiencing what the 96 OFWs did. They weren’t paid properly, nothing good came out from their work in Poland.]
De Castro subsequently ordered the Task Force Against Illegal Recruiters (Tfair), which he heads, to file the appropriate criminal charges against Eureka.
The lure
One of the victims said during the program that they first learned Eureka was recruiting workers for a glass-making company in Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland through friends and the Internet.
With the lure of a monthly salary of $500 to $750 or about P24,000 to P36,000, and free food and lodging, the workers were attracted.
“Pagkatapos po nun, siyempre po nung natanggap namin iyon naisip namin Europe ho iyon, pagkakataon, opportunity [When we received that offer, we immediately thought ‘That’s Europe, this would be a good opportunity’]," the OFW told De Castro.
The catch
But only after paying their placement fees did they find out what the catch was.
The workers told De Castro that when they checked with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), they saw that their monthly salary had been changed to $346.66 or about P16,000.
“Malayo ho sa inalok samen, dahil kung nalaman po namin, hindi na ho naming papatusin [It was very far from what was offered to us, if we only knew, we wouldn’t have taken their offer]," said one of the OFWs.
But he said they had no choice but to still go to Poland because they had already paid Eureka almost P50,000 in fees.
“Kaya no choice kami, sabi naming baka nga formality lang, nagastusan na kami, pumayag na rin kami [That’s why we had no choice, we were told it was just a formality but we’ve already spent money so went on with it]," he said.
Moreover, the agency also reportedly made the workers sign a contract saying that they would have to pay P20,000 as fine if they do not go forth with the job.
Hell in Poland
And that wasn’t the end of it.
When they arrived in Poland, their recruiter’s counterpart allegedly made them sign another contract reducing their pay to the equivalent of P12,000 to P14,000 – half of the very first salary offer.
Aside from the pay, the workers were assigned to live in a container van at a time even though it was winter time in Poland during that time.
“Ang accommodation namin ay container van, nilagyan lang nila ng walling, may heater po kami pero hindi katulad nung normal, hindi pa naman ho kami sanay sa lamig [Our accommodation was just a container van, they just installed some walling, there was a heater but it wasn’t like the normal one, and we weren’t used to the cold]," said one of the workers.
Their meals, likewise, just consisted of hard bread, porridge and even stale rice.
Moreover, they were reportedly made to work alongside inmates. "We were scared because the inmates did not seem to like us," one of the workers said on De Castro's radio program.
Escape
Unable to bear the hardship, 21 of the 96 workers decided to ask help from the Philippine Consulate in Warsaw, Poland.
“Ang nangyari nung time na iyon, nag-e-email na kami sa gobyerno [What happened during that time was that we e-mailed the government]," said one of the workers.
Aside from the government agencies, he said they also sent e-mails to Senator Manuel Villar and De Castro to ask for help.
It was the consulate, however, that helped the workers escape from their employer’s hands.
All in all, 67 of the 96 workers recruited by Eureka have returned to the Philippines. Their repatriation tickets were shouldered by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The 29 others reportedly decided to stay on and finish their contract, worried that they would be jobless when they return home.
Ordeal far from over
The workers who returned home, however, said their ordeal is still far from over as Eureka has filed breach of contract raps against each one of them.
"Kami na nga ang nawalan ng kwarta, gusto pa kaming idiin (We have lost money here, but we are being squeezed some more)," one of the workers said.
Lesson learned
De Castro directed the Tfair to file charges of excessive fee placement and contract substitution against Eureka and assured the victims that Tfair will help them fight the recruitment agency, but appealed on their cooperation.
“Dito kapag tinutulungan namin, walang atrasan ito [When we help someone, we don’t back down]," he said.
He said the workers themselves should have noticed that something was wrong when they found that their contract had been changed.
“Lesson na rin ‘yan na nakita na ninyo sa kontrata ninyo na may problema na, dito palang nagreklamno na kayo sa amin eh [It’s a lesson to all that if you see a problem in the contract, you should immediately complain about it to the authorities]," he said.
He expressed relief that the case of Eureka had already reached his office because 400 more workers were supposed to be deployed by the agency.
Eureka, whose office address is located at 1913 Leon Guinto Street Ermita, Manila, could not be immediately reached for comment.
A search on the Internet showed that it was in the POEA's list of top land-based agencies in 2005.
The POEA, however, has suspended it from processing documents for OFWs as a result of the Poland fiasco. - GMANews.TV
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