OEC processing will not be suspended again amid ongoing POEA probe –DOLE exec

The investigation on the alleged involvement of several Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) personnel in illegal recruitment activities will not result in another suspension of processing of overseas employment certificates (OECs), a labor official said Thursday.

"Wala na. Tapos na, back to normal na tayo dun. Na-address na natin eh," Labor Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said in an interview at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

DOLE suspended the acceptance and processing of all new applications for OECs from November 13 to December 1 as part of its crackdown on erring personnel.

The measure was implemented to investigate reports stating that 80 to 90 percent of direct hires are victims of illegal recruitment and that certain POEA employees are pocketing up to P250,000 for issuing OECs to illegal recruiters

While it was announced earlier that some employees suspected of illegal recruitment were removed or suspended, Olalia said only one POEA official has been removed from duty pending the final results of the investigation.

"Meron na kaming inilipat na wala na sa POEA. Hindi lang namin sinuspend, tinanggal na namin sa POEA," he said. "Hindi namin ni-reassign."

He hinted that the employee held a key and "delicate" position in the POEA and headed a certain department, but declined to give his name or the number of employees, recruitment agencies, and travel agencies posing as recruitment agencies under investigation.

Olalia said they will release the results in January 2018 after they finish interviewing witnesses with first-hand accounts on these illegal activities.

"We are presently investigating all the agencies involved. As of now, we have not identified the number of these agencies. Lahat po ng agency na nagta-transact sa POEA ay on deck. Ibig sabihin pag may lumabas pong ebidensya, we will act on it," he said.

"It will all depend on the testimonies of the persons who have personal knowledge on these illegal transactions. Pag may binanggit po silang transaction at nabanggit yung ahensya, yung ahensya po na yun ay amin pong isasama doon sa imbestigasyon," added Olalia.

He said the number of agencies under investigation can go up to thousands.

An augmentation team composed of employees from different units of DOLE and POEA worked through the backlog of OECs left unprocessed from November 13 to December 1.

It was estimated that 75,000 would-be OFWs would be put on hold during the suspension period. —KBK, GMA News