POEA cancels license of manning agency over placement fee

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has cancelled the license of a local manning agency for collecting placement fees worth P30,000 and P60,000 from two jobseekers.

According to POEA, Mid-South Ship and Crew Management, Inc. collected the money from the victims and made them sign two-year employment contracts for a monthly salary of $250.

The two victims then worked as fishermen aboard a Taiwan-based fishing vessel for three and a half months before returning to the Philippines due to alleged maltreatment and unpaid wages.

Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in a statement on Tuesday that the manning company violated a provision of POEA's rules and regulations prohibiting the collection of placement fees from seafarers.

Section 2 (a) of Rule II, Part V of the 2003 POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Seafarers states that "charging, imposing or accepting directly or indirectly, any amount of money goods or services, or any fee or bond for any purpose from an applicant seafarer" is grounds for imposition of administrative sanctions.

Mid-South Ship and Crew Management, Inc. was barred from recruiting or deploying Filipinos abroad and was ordered to refund all the fees it collected from the complainants. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA

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