MANILA, 23 August 2007 — Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has offered job applicants who were victimized by illegal recruiters to pursue their case and stand as witness in exchange for a job abroad.
He promised to help prospective OFWs to go abroad and get that most coveted job once the illegal recruiter is brought to court.
He told reporters in a press briefing that this is a big move for the department to curb illegal recruitment and at the same time give jobs to deserving job applicants who stood their ground.
He also warned prospective job applicants to go through legitimate channels only when applying for overseas employment to avoid being victimized by scams such as Internet recruitment.
Brion, who chairs the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Board, urged workers looking for overseas jobs through the Internet to check with POEA whether the agency or individual posting vacancies in the net are licensed and legitimate.
He explained that the POEA allows only licensed agencies and their legitimate representatives to post vacancies and recruit Filipino workers through the Internet. POEA is a Department of Labor-attached agency.
The labor chief noted that the emerging trend of recruitment and posting of job vacancies on the Internet have provided unscrupulous individuals the opportunity to victimize workers in search of high-paying overseas jobs. He said that would-be victims are usually lured with overseas employment offering generous salaries and benefits that most often appear “too good to be true.”
“Workers should be wary of such job offers in the Internet especially when the online recruiter requires them to deposit money to some unknown accounts to cover processing and other fees,” Brion said.
He said that victims of illegal recruitment fall prey to perpetrators, popularly known as scammers, after being advised to submit credentials and deposit money to unknown accounts.
Online recruitment scams requiring applicants to deposit money to certain accounts are most likely fraudulent, he reiterated.
