Monday, July 16, 2007 POEA to investigate recruitment agency
THE officer-in-charge of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said they will look into reports that a local placement agency recruited Cirilo Borgonia Jr. and 20 others from Cebu to work in Iraq.
POEA’s Evelia Durato released the statement following revelations by Borgonia’s sister Juliet Gomez that Sime Agency had recruited her brother and 20 others to work illegally in Iraq.
In an interview over radio dyLA, Durato said they had received complaints against Sime in the past but the recruiters merely denied the allegations.
Without license
“Natural kay pwede na silang kasuhan kay nganong nagpadala sila ug mga workers sa gawas. Wala man silay license to hire workers abroad (They can be charged for sending workers abroad, especially that they don’t have the license to do this),” she said.
She also said there is a pending case against the agency filed by complainants who were allegedly stranded in Dubai.
She urged Borgonia’s relatives and other victims to come out and file a formal complaint against Sime at POEA.
Borgonia, 33, a mini-bus driver from Lutopan, Toledo City, was among three persons killed during an attack at the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq last Tuesday.
His papers with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) show that he was bound for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as a tourist-businessman.
Yesterday, Owwa urged families of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who are still working abroad to voluntarily enlist or enroll with Philippine consulate offices or embassies for their protection.
Owwa 7 Director Wilfreda L. Misterio said voluntary enlistment will lead to a proper documentation of an OFW.
Emergencies
“If they (illegally hired OFWs) will submit themselves to enrollment, the Philippine Government, through POEA and Owwa, can help them in times of trouble and emergencies,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bureau of Immigration Director Geronimo Rosas said that it’s hard to prevent the departure of Filipinos who want to work abroad illegally because of the “right to travel” provision of the Constitution.
Rosas said that in the past years, they have prevented the departures of persons bound for Dubai and other Middle East countries posing as tourists because there are no tourist spots there.
But some unscrupulous job recruiters have shifted to another strategy, such as instructing their recruits to disguise themselves as businessmen and to even pay the travel tax.
Rosas said that in some instances, they referred to the POEA some suspected workers disguising as tourists. But the POEA will not anymore bother to investigate if the persons have paid the travel tax. (EOB)
