100 recruitment firms face closure - POEA

MANILA, Philippines - About a hundred recruitment agencies face possible suspension or closure soon, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reported.

POEA director Melchor Dizon said the recruitment agencies were ordered to replenish their P1-million escrow fund by mid-May or have their operations suspended.

Dizon said the agencies have “missing” escrow funds after they deposited a portion of the mandatory fund with the Legacy-operated Rural Bank of Parañaque.

Under the POEA regulation, every recruitment agency must put up at least P1 million escrow fund that can be used to pay the money claims of overseas Filipino workers.

 “We were told that the agencies would be able to recover a portion of their deposit so they will just have to add a little to comply with the requirement,” Dizon said.

He said the POEA ordinarily gives agencies only 15 days to replenish the fund, but “this is a different circumstance.”

The POEA earlier reported that about 144 agencies invested their escrow fund in the rural bank. The total investment has yet to be determined, but sources said some P200 million was transferred from the Asiatrust Bank to the Rural Bank of Parañaque after the latter offered higher interest rates.

Sources added that the funds were transferred without the POEA’s approval. – Mayen Jaymalin