POEA urged to renew licenses of 180 agencies

Manpower recruiters warned yesterday of a massive drop in deployment of Filipino workers abroad if the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) does not renew the licenses of 180 recruitment agencies facing complaints of illegal exaction of fees and other offenses.

Francisco de Guzman, a recruitment industry leader, said the POEA told him the 180 agencies’ applications for license renewal remain pending.

“Since these agencies will not be allowed to recruit, select and process thousands of job orders from various countries, this could trigger decline in deployment,” he said.

Many of the recruitment agencies are already on their third and last extension of authority, which allows them to operate and accredit new employers, De Guzman said.

Early this year, 50 recruitment agencies were unable to operate after then Labor Secretary Arturo Brion insisted on a  “zero case” policy for agencies renewing their licenses.

When Labor Secretary Marianito Roque Jr. took over, he gave the agencies temporary authority to operate and allowed them to process their workers.

Agencies with a maximum of four pending cases of recruitment violations were allowed to renew licenses while still clearing their cases, De Guzman said.

With the zero case policy, many agencies are now reportedly planning to surrender their licenses if they cannot be renewed.

The current policy is a clear indication of the government’s efforts to take over the recruitment sector, the agencies said.  – Mayen Jaymalin