DOLE: Report recruiters charging placement fees

Filipinos enticed to work as domestic helpers overseas should not believe promises by recruitment agencies that they would be refunded placement fees, the labor department warned on Tuesday. The government’s deployment policy on household service workers (or domestic helpers) prohibits the collection of placement fees. Labor Secretary Arturo Brion advised recruited Filipino workers, particularly those bound for Hong Kong, to be wary of agencies or individuals charging them placement fees with a promise of a refund upon deployment. Brion noted a report from Labor Attache Romy Salud in Hong Kong that Filipino workers there complained of having difficulties getting a refund of the placement fees they paid prior to departure in the Philippines. He said the recruiters deceived the workers that they could get back what they paid in placement fees. The policy prohibiting the collection of placement fees has been in effect since Dec. 16, 2006. Brion urged Filipino workers to immediately report to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration any agency or individual charging placement fees with a promise of a refund upon deployment. Penalties await erring recruitment agencies and its officers or individual recruiters, Brion warned. POEA rules provide that agencies collecting placement fees from workers despite prohibitions will be penalized with cancellation of license and also refund of the fee collected from the worker. - GMANews.TV