‘No deployment ban to Poland for now’
THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on Monday said it is not inclined to stop the processing of papers of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) bound for Poland amid reports that illegal recruiters are exploiting applicants who want to work there.
Instead, POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia said the government is more partial to preventing illegal recruiters from taking advantage of hapless OFWs.
“Only noncompliant recruitment agencies will be penalized,” Olalia told the BusinessMirror via SMS.
In a letter she submitted to Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III in November, Labor attaché Cheryl L. Daytec of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in Geneva, recommended the suspension of the processing of papers of OFWs bound for Poland.
Daytec’s recommendation is for the restriction to take effect for Poland-bound OFWs until the POEA has developed a working regulatory framework to prevent the “exploitative practice of PRA [Philippine recruitment agencies] and their Polish principals.”
This was in response to the “rising incidents” of runaway OFWs in Poland, which the Polo monitored. These OFWs suffered abuse and their employers reneged on their contracts.
As of October, the Polo said it already recorded 135 abscondees.
Last month, Daytec said in her report, four other distressed OFWs also sought aid from the Polo in Geneva, after they were deployed by Gold Icon Recruitment and Promotion Inc. to work for HR Motives in Poland.
The complainants claimed Gold Icon collected from them at least P269,000 in processing fees without any receipts. They were made to borrow money from a lending institution and sign a waiver that they did not pay the processing fee.
Upon checking with the POEA database for licensed recruitment agencies, Daytec said they learned that as of October 23, Gold Icon’s license to process documents was suspended.
Daytec also flagged HR Motives after it supposedly changed the contract of the victims upon their arrival in Poland.
She urged the POEA to investigate both companies and to help the concerned OFWs collect the fees which Gold Icon allegedly extracted from them.
Source
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/12/03/no-deployment-ban-to-poland-for-now/
Related Links:
Probe ‘third country’ recruitment of OFWs to Poland
Beware of Job scams to Poland
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