Step 8
Print three copies of your OEC along with the system-generated certificates and receipts that will be sent to you. Image Credit: ScreenshotDubai: The issuance and processing of application for "exit passes" of all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) was temporarily suspended from today, November 13, to curb its misuse by anomalous private recruiters, according to a Philippine labour department.
The order will be implemented by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for compliance by all land-based private recruitment agencies, according to Department Order No. 185 (Series of 2017).
The suspension order signed on November 10 by Philippine Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III. It takes effect from today, November 13, 2017.
On Friday, the Philippines' labour secretary signed the order suspending the acceptance and processing of applications for the exit pass — formally known a Overseas Employment Certificates (OEC) — issued to OFWs due to reports of recruiters flouting the rules.
Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered the POEA, a government watchdog regulating overseas work, to stop accepting and processing of applications for new OECs for all OFWs, including "direct-hire" workers.
Filipino workers can work overseas through direct hiring by foreign employers or by applying to through private recruitment agencies licensed by the POEA.
Felicitas Bay, Philippine Labour Attache in Dubai, explained that the order will be implemented by the agency in Manila and only covers licensed private recruitment agencies for land-based workers.
Bay told Gulf News: "We will still issue OECs to bona-fide OFWs, those who are returning to the same employer."
"Returning workers who apply for their OEC or 'Balik-Manggagawa' certificate will not be affected, because the order covers new recruits, including 'direct-hires' from the Philippines."
The exit clearance, or OEC, is a Philippine government requirement for Filipinos going home on holiday. The document proves that they have been hired legally and intend to go back to the same employer abroad.
The Philippine labour department said the 15-day suspension was issued to give officials time to look into reports of illegal recruitment activities.
The order will be in place until December 1, 2017.
“We are taking this important action in view of the persistent reports of illegal recruitment activities, including direct hires — and in order to protect the public from the pernicious activities of certain unscrupulous individuals preying on our OFWs,” Bello said in a statement.
The POEA is also a quasi-judicial body regulating private agencies involved in processing of overseas employment of Filipinos.
The labour secretary said a team will probe the reported anomalies — and give him recommendations for immediate actions to prevent OFWs from being victims of anomalous schemes.
Bello said, however, that workers who are being hired by international organizations, members of diplomatic corps, which includes members of royal families, and sea-based recruitment agencies, are not covered by the suspension.
In April, Bello temporarily suspended the processing and issuance of OECs for all direct-hire workers amid reports that some POEA employees illegally collected fees from OFWs seeking to be exempt from a ban on direct hiring.
