Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday identified 11 recruitment agencies that he said are responsible for the deployment of Filipina workers to South Korea and are forced into prostitution once there.
According to Pimentel, over 5,000 of Filipinas have been forced into prostitution in South Korea.
In a letter to Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, Pimentel said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) should investigate the recruitment agencies "which facilitated the entry into South Korea of Filipina ‘entertainers’ who ended up working illegally in some dive, brothel and other places of ill-repute."
Pimentel identified the 11 recruitment agencies in his letter as FMB Promotion on Bloomingdale Avenue, Angono, Rizal owned by Fely Mariano Balbin; Mega Star Agency on Buendia Extension in Pasay City; MJB Recruitment Agency in San Antonio Village in Makati City; Tokophil in Malate, Manila reportedly owned by Laila Villaflor; Korea Special Tourist Association owned by Ang Sung Ho on Mabini street in Ermita, Manila; a firm owned by Alex and Carol Banag based in Mabalacat, Pampanga; a firm owned by Alex Jeremias based in Novaliches, Pampanga; a firm owned by Yoo Bong Ki, a Korean national said to be married to a Filipina based in Angeles, Pampanga; a firm owned by Armando Boy Alquero; Jerphi Placement Agency and; a firm owned by Allan Torres.
Pimentel told Sto. Tomas that these firms are liable for various illegal acts committed by South Korean employers against the Filipinas.
"I trust that you will spare no effort to uncover the reported illegal activities of the persons named above so that we can have them prosecuted and punished," Pimentel told the Labor Secretary.
The Philippine Embassy in Seoul earlier rescued 11 Filipina women who were forced into prostitution by their employers there.