MANILA, 17 January — The Philippine government intends to become the sole recruitment agency by eliminating manpower agencies in the country, the head of a group of licensed recruiters charged.

“This is very ironic. On the one hand, the government declares 2002 the year of the overseas employment provider and then it comes out with policies to put us in the sidelines,” Federation Association of Manpower Exporters (FAME) President Alfredo Palmiery told Arab News.

Palmiery said this was the apparent objective of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency’s (POEA) Revised Rules and Regulations pertaining to licensed recruitment agencies.

Fame claimed that a plan by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to expand the coverage of “name-hiring” under the revised POEA rules and regulations would be counter-productive as it would merely “legitimize the operations of illegal recruiters.”

Fame pointed out that existing rules already provide adequate protection for OFWs, notably domestic helpers.

“The new POEA Rules are harsh and onerous to licensed recruitment agencies but are silent on the illegal recruiter,” Ed Mahiya, Chairman of FAME said.

Palmiery lamented that “with the revised Rules and Regulations, it makes it easy for the government to cancel licenses.”

“We agree that those who do not follow rules should be booted out. But they should consider realities, the global competition and country specific realities” Palmiery said citing the example of Hong Kong where prospective employers rely heavily on licensed recruitment agencies.

“They are not dealing directly with employees. They are recruiting workers through placement agencies.

The agencies source employees, apply for their visas and process contracts.

They apply for the workers permits for these workers and attend to the endless problems during the duration of their contracts,” Palmiery said.

These, he indicated, are the intermediaries who are an intrinsic part of overseas employment.

Palmiery said FAME is “asking DOLE and the POEA to defer the approval of the new rules until more realistic recruitment policies have been made.”

FAME appealed to President Gloria Arroyo to defer these rules if she wants to achieve her target deployment for the year of one million OFWs.

At the same time, she should “dissuade the POEA from competing with the private sector.

It should confine itself to servicing government employers/principals only.”

At least one member of the POEA’s governing body, FAME said, should come from the manpower industry association.