Speaker Romualdez seeks no-placement fee policy for OFWs in Japan --- By LLANESCA T. PANTI, GMA Integrated News

Speaker Martin Romualdez on Friday called on the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to push for a no-placement fee policy for Filipinos seeking to work in Japan. Romualdez said Japanese companies and employers had promised to employ more Filipinos in dialogues with President Marcos. "I hope that the DMW can engage the recruitment industry and Japanese employers on how to make Japan a 100-percent no placement fee labor market,” Romualdez said. Romualdez said his proposal should cover seafarers, professionals, and non-skilled workers. He said Japanese employers held Filipinos in high regard. "We are happy to hear directly from our OFWs in Japan on how much they are valued by their employers, and vice-versa," Romualdez said. He said while trainees under the Technical Internship Training Program and specified skilled workers need not pay placement fees, “there are Filipino job seekers who fall outside these categories that are being asked to pay, such as professionals and highly skilled workers.” Romualdez is part of the delegation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who's on a working visit in Tokyo. DMW Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople is also in the Japanese capital. Romualdez asked Filipino workers in Japan and job applicants in Manila to report excessive and illegal fees to the DMW and through DMW Offices in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. “Congress will work with DMW in strengthening existing laws and regulations to enable the government to run after and punish those who collect illegal fees,” Romualdez said. —NB, GMA Integrated News

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