A SENATOR called on the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to go after foreign-controlled recruitment agencies that use Filipinos as front owners to hire employees abroad.
Senator Jose “Jinggoy” E. Estrada said his office has received information on allegedly foreign-owned placement agencies, which violate the licensing and regulation rules of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Labor Code of the Philippines.
Filipinos posing as “dummy incorporators” was apparently “common knowledge” in the industry, he said in a statement on Thursday.
The senator said there are suspicions that some of these illegal recruitment agencies may be responsible for the deployment of workers who end up being abused, such as Jullebee Cabilis Ranara who was recently slain in Kuwait.
Initial investigation conducted by the DMW showed that Ms. Ranara’s local and foreign recruitment agencies failed to comply with the mandatory monitoring requirements to ensure the well-being of their deployed workers.
“It might be tedious for this committee to summon all the incorporators or the board of directors of the recruitment agencies,” Mr. Estrada said. “Let’s just request the DMW to scrutinize the recruitment agencies, whether the proprietors of these recruitment agencies have the financial capability to run its operations.”
DMW officials have assured senators that once the licenses of recruitment agencies are revoked or canceled due to violations, all of its officers and incorporators are placed on a derogatory list and are disqualified to operate any other recruitment activities. — A lyssa Nicole O. Tan
