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DEPARTMENT
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
P R E
S S R E L E A S E
www.dfa.gov.ph
2330 Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, Philippines
Tel. No. 834-4000 |
SFA-AGR-584-07
20
June 2007
Philippine
Embassy,
Kuala Lumpur
assists victims of
ill
egal recruiters
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Third
Secretary and Vice Consul Shirlene C. Mananquil (rear, at head of table),
assisted by Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Officers Gangco T. Punguinagina
(Vice Consul’s right) and Dennis A. Vergara (Vice Consul’s left),
interviews eight of the 14 Filipino victims of illegal recruitment who
sought the Embassy’s assistance after they were abandoned by their
Filipino recruiters and Malaysian agents to whom they have paid varying
amounts of money as job placement fees.
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20
July 2007 — Chargé d'Affaires, a.i.
(CDA) Anne J. Louis of the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia reported
to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Embassy is assisting 14 Filipinos
in their return home after they were victimized by illegal recruiters in the
Philippines and Malaysia who promised them high-paying jobs.
The Filipinos, all male between 18 and
36 years of age, come from the provinces of La Union and Nueva Vizcaya and from
General
Santos
City
. Their recruiters facilitiated
their entry into
Malaysia
as tourists with a promise that their working permits will be processed upon
their arrival in the country. They
were abandoned by their recruiters to whom they had paid varying amounts of
money as job placement fees, and arrived at the Embassy in batches on 16 and 17
July 2007 to seek assistance.
The
men were recruited and deployed to
Malaysia
by different ‘agents’ from their respective provinces and were promised
high-paying jobs in factories in
Malaysia
with monthly salaries of between PhP20,000 and 30,000.
Those recruited from Nueva Vizcaya and La Union paid PhP35,000 each to
their respective recruiters, while those from General Santos City paid as much
as PhP100,000 each as placement fees. They
said that all of them were also advised to pay another PhP15,000 each to a
Filipino couple in
Malaysia
, who met them upon arrival in
Kuala Lumpur
.
The
Filipinos entered
Malaysia
as tourists in batches on 22, 23, 27 June and 7 July 2007.
After a few days in
Kuala Lumpur
, they were taken to Johor Bahru at the border with
Singapore
, a five-hour drive from the Malaysian capital.
In Johor Bahru, a Malaysian agent met and brought them to a tile factory,
where they worked for only five days because their services were terminated by
the employer after the Malaysian agent failed to get their required working
permits. The Filipinos said that the
factory ceased operations after they were terminated from work.
By this time, they were already abandoned by their respective Malaysian
agents.
From
Johor Bahru, they traveled to
Kuala Lumpur
to seek the Embassy’s assistance for their immediate repatriation to the
Philippines
.
The
Filipino victims are now under the care of the Embassy, with five of the victims
accommodated at the Filipino Workers’ Resource Center (FWRC) while the other
nine staying at the Embassy premises.
The
Embassy reiterates its call to would-be OFWs to apply only at employment
agencies registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
to avoid being victimized by illegal recruiters.
Those in the provinces should inquire about the legitimacy of recruiters
who approach them. They should
contact the DFA Regional Consular Offices or the regional offices of the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare
Administration (OWWA). END
/jay
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