Criminal charges filed against Manila job recruitment firm

Criminal and administrative charges have been filed against a job placement agency engaged in sending Filipino "tourist workers" to the UAE.

The agency officials have been asked to explain their side within a few days by regulators in Manila.

A case is being prepared by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) against the directors of the Makati-based recruiter for multiple counts of illegal recruitment, punishable by life imprisonment under Philippine laws.

Immigration agents in Dubai nabbed two of the victims who were working while on a visit visa and deported immediately.

The victims - Marichu Luris from Pampanga and Darlene Leysa from Batangas - were working as cashiers at a hypermarket near Muraqqabat district.

Gulf News learned their recruiters in Manila had promised them well-paying jobs in Dubai. They were also asked to stump up between 70,000 and 100,000 pesos in "placement fees".

Vicente Cabe, the Philippine Labour Attache in Dubai, said the two appear to be unwitting victims of racketeers who charge exorbitant placement fees for non-existent jobs abroad.
They were left to fend for themselves as soon as they landed here.

"These agencies will be held criminally liable for illegal recruitment. If you deploy a worker, then he or she should have been processed by the POEA. The fact that those girls came here on visit visas is a prima facie evidence they were deployed illegally."

Another case against the agency is illegal exaction, since the workers were asked to pay an amount more than is required by law.

Lawyers of POEA's Anti-Illegal Recruitment Branch will stand as lawyers for the victims, said Cabe.

Before he was assigned as labour attaché in Hong Kong and Dubai, Cabe headed different divisions of the branch and won convictions against over 70 illegal recruiters.

"When a case goes through all the way, it's almost 100 per cent sure that we will get a conviction. The only problem is most of the cases we handle will be settled by the complainants."

Meanwhile, the POEA taskforce dealing with illegal recruiters was deactivated this year due to budget constraints.

"Unfortunately since last year, the budget insertion of between five million and 10 million pesos for anti-illegal recruitment was removed. In the past, that gave us the necessary funding for these entrapment operations."

Cabe said the task force must be revived to deal with the growing menace of illegal recruiters. "When it's a large-scale or syndicated illegal recruitment, this is punishable by life imprisonment."

Life imprisonment cases goes through automatic review by the Supreme Court, which takes two or three years. "Unfortunately, even those cases in the 1990s that were already finished are still being reviewed by the Supreme Court," he said.

Recruiters are only allowed by law to ask for "placement fees" equivalent to one-month's salary, plus 5,000 pesos in the Philippines.