MANILA – The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has blacklisted two US-based recruitment agencies.OFW
In a statement, POEA Administrator Hans Cacdac
said the government has ordered the exclusion in the list of accredited overseas Filipino workers (OFW) recruitment agencies of the country the US Opportunities LLC and Royal Hospitality Services LLC.
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“The POEA orders their exclusion from participating in the government’s overseas employment program for contractual violation under the POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Land-based Overseas Workers,” said Cacdac.
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The labor official said the decision came after the POEA resolved with finality the recruitment violation cases filed against them over their failure to provide several OFWs the jobs specified in their contracts.
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Previously, the POEA had already put US Opportunities and Royal Hospitality Services under preventive suspension and were not allowed to recruit additional Filipino workers for their client companies.
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ZDrive Inc., the US companies’ accredited recruitment agency in the Philippines, on the other hand, got suspended on August 20, 2010 before its license was eventually cancelled by the POEA on May 31, 2011.
Back in 2010, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Washington reported to the POEA the plight of 24 OFWs, who were alleged victims of human trafficking for forced labor.
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The victims, Cacdac noted, claimed that they paid up to P350,000 in fees to get jobs in hotels in Florida under US H2B visa but were instead brought to Mississippi and were made to work in farms planting seeds and have to live in trailers, trapped in the woods for a month without water and electricity.
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He added that they were also allegedly subjected to threats and intimidation, are made to work raking and bailing pine leaves in the dead of winter, and forced to plant 1,800 pine tree seedlings a day for a measly wage of US$40 a week.Structural Steel Detailing Batanes Islands
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After finding the courage to escape and get in touch with ZDrive Inc., they were supposedly then sent in various hotels and entertainment facilities, where they were paid below the minimum wage and their wages subjected to illegal deductions.Work in Singapore
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“Separate human trafficking cases were already filed against the recruiters in the US Department of Home Security and the Department of Justice in the Philippines,” said Cacdac.
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Earlier in the week, the Philippines had retained its previous ranking in the US report after making progress in addressing human trafficking but falling short on producing convictions of illegal recruiters.
