Recruitment firm suspended for overcharging jobseekers

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has suspended the license to operate of a recruitment agency deploying workers to Taiwan for charging applicants excessive placement fee rates, an official said yesterday.  

POEA chief Hans Cacdac said they cancelled the license of Prime Stars International Promotion Corporation after it was found guilty of collecting P80,000 to P120,000 in placement fees from 18 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

He said the rules allow a land-based recruitment agency to charge and collect from its hired workers a placement fee equivalent to one month’s salary.

“In the case of factory workers in Taiwan, the regulation allows only NT$17,280 or more or less P26,000, as stated in their signed contract,” Cacdac said.

The OFWs also complained of unpaid overtime pay and other benefits stipulated in their employment contract.

With the cancellation of its license, the officers and directors of Prime Stars are disqualified from engaging in the business of recruitment and placement of OFWs, Cacdac said.

He also ordered the agency’s insurance firm to refund the complainants the excess in placement fees, amounting to more than P1.5 million, illegally collected by Prime Stars.

Meanwhile, the POEA also stopped another recruitment agency from sending OFWs to Austria.

Cacdac said the POEA issued a suspension order for Marhaba International Management Services based on the complaint of four prospective OFWs.

The complainants alleged that Marhaba failed to deploy them to Austria even after they paid a total of P267,500 in placement and visa fees.

Cacdac said Marhaba International has neither job orders nor accreditation from any employer in Austria.