MANILA, 17 December 2007 — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has suspended six recruitment agencies for contract substitution and issuing fake visit visas.
In the orders of preventive suspension Arab News obtained, POEA suspended 7 Blessings Development and Placement Center, Jobtrade International Manpower Services and Sameera Gulf Management Services for substituting the contracts of OFWs Juvelyn Vegafria and Novie Bengua on separate occasions.
POEA likewise slapped a preventive suspension order to Non-Stop Overseas Employment Corporation, M.R International Talent Management Service and Azizzah International Manpower Services, Inc. for issuing fake visit visas to OFWs Marilou Po Mantua and Lynibeth Gaitan.
Labor Attaché Virginia Calvez, head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Dubai, reported to the POEA that 7 Blessings Development and Placement Center documented OFW Vegafria as a waitress for Ewan Hotel but she actually worked as a domestic helper.
Vegafria said in her sworn statement that she applied as a domestic worker with Jobtrade International Manpower Services but her documents were processed by 7 Blessings Development and Placement Center at the POEA.
She was given a salary of only 650 dirhams a month, was overworked and maltreated. She eventually ran away from her employer and was admitted to the Philippine Center last September.
OFW Novie Bengua, on the other hand, sought the assistance of Labor Attaché Leopoldo De Jesus, POLO chief in Kuwait, who endorsed her case to the POEA. He said in his endorsement that Bengua was deployed as a typist in Kuwait with a salary of 100 Kuwaiti dinars but was made to work as a domestic helper in her jobsite instead.
POEA Administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz last month also suspended the license of three recruitment agencies for “reprocessing” the contracts of OFWs.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Region 10 Director Petrona Bergado also reported to POEA that Non-Stop Overseas Employment Corporation sent OFW Marilou Mantua, together with other OFWs, to Kuwait using fake visit visas.
In the same manner, the Labor Attaché to Abu Dhabi, Nasser Munder, wrote the POEA that M.R. International Talent Management Service and Azizzah International Manpower Services, Inc. have been recruiting housemaids using fake visit visas. OFW Gaitan, together with unnamed three OFWs, departed from the Philippines using fake visit visas. Upon her arrival at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, she was instructed by said recruitment agency to present her fake employment visa.
Baldoz in her order specified that Non-Stop Overseas Employment Corporation was suspended because it “circumvented” the law. M.R International Talent Management Service and Azizzah International Manpower Services, Inc. were also suspended by POEA and were prevented from participating in the overseas employment program because of its labor violations.
