HONG KONG (SE): “I think the recruitment agencies in the Philippines that do not follow the regulations and instead insist or require applicants to undergo training even though their national certificate qualifies them already, have to be banned or their license to operate has to be revoked,” Good Shepherd Sister Corazon Demetillo, director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Filipinos in Hong Kong, told the Sunday Examiner on February 1.
Hundreds of OFWs (overseas foreign workers) have been going to the Philippine Consulate on their days off to file claims for illegal training fees collected by recruitment agencies.
Sister Demetillo, called on the Philippine government to impose heavy punishment on agencies who coerced workers into paying the fees, or even revoke their license.
She said she does not think the recent claims for training fees will stop agencies from imposing illegal charges as people applying to work overseas to help their families still have no choice but to pay.
“The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) should have a strong will to impose punishment to offenders,” the sister said.
‘I think the recruitment agencies in the Philippines that do not follow the regulations and instead insist or require applicants to undergo training even though their national certificate qualifies them already, have to be banned or their license to operate has to be revoked’
Sister Corazon Demetillo
The guidelines issued by the POEA say that overseas workers are only required to secure a national certificate of competency from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. An employer who requires a worker to undergo training before taking up employment in Hong Kong should pay for it.
The claims were made after Philippine labour attaché Melchor Dizon made a statement during a meeting with a group of Filipino community leaders in November last year and said that recruitment agencies could not compel the overseas workers to undergo training.
A report in The Sun said that around 30 workers then went to the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) to file claims for the training fee on 22 November 2020. Up to early January, around 300 overseas Filipino workers had filed claims against their agencies.
Some who filed for reimbursement on November 22 were summoned to a conciliation meeting with the Hong Kong agencies on January 10. One then got a refund of 35,000 pesos ($5,646) from the A.S.H manpower agency in the Philippines, and Westlake Manpower Resources, its counterpart in Hong Kong, according to Social Justice for Migrant Workers, a group that assisted in making the first batch of claims.
Others reported that agencies called employers to pressure them to terminate their workers. Some threatened the workers, claiming that they had signed a document indicating that they would not file cases against them, that they didn’t pay anything and some even resort to intimidation saying that the OFWs will be blacklisted.
Marites Palma, founder of the group, said it takes at least one month to arrange a conciliation meeting with the agency, and when the worker and the agency do not agree on the amount to be refunded, the case will be forwarded to the POEA. Based on POEA regulations, all workers who arrived no earlier than three years ago can file the claim.
Palma said it is understandable that claimants are given no receipts, but that payment could be proved in different ways, such as by a text message, a picture or a statement by a fellow applicant.
Dolores Balladares Pelaez, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong, said some recruitment agencies have responded heavy-handedly and use scare tactics against OFWs who make claims. Some workers reported that agencies have been calling up claimants to set up a meeting before conciliation at the POLO to settle the matter before meeting government officials.
Others reported that agencies called employers to pressure them to terminate their workers. Some threatened the workers, claiming that they had signed a document indicating that they would not file cases against them, that they didn’t pay anything and some even resort to intimidation saying that the OFWs will be blacklisted.
Some agencies tried to appeal to emotions by claiming that if not for them, the workers would not be able to come here to work.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
Balladares demanded that migrant workers planning to make claims should not be threatened by the agencies and report any harassment to the POLO. She also hopes that POLO can speed up the process of these claims.
The group called on the POLO to open up on Fridays and Saturdays so that workers who have their days off on those days can file their claims.
Julie Pagou, who is going to make her claim, said she paid around 28,000 pesos ($4,515) for training to her agency, called Sacred Heart International Services in Manila, in August 2019.
She said staff told her that she would not be allowed to work in Hong Kong unless she paid even though she had just finished her contract in the Middle East and her certificate of competency is still valid.
She could sense that the agency only wanted money as the staff gave her a hard time when she argued with them at the agency’s office in Manila.
Her family finally mortgaged their farm to raise money to pay for the training. She was given no receipt after she paid. She said she is now determined to make the claim because the collection was illegal.
