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AFTER agonizing for years, 65
Filipino workers finally got their fair share of justice against a
recruitment agency that victimized them of their hard-earned money
but failed to deploy them for the promise jobs abroad.
The Philippine
Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), in a resolution, ordered the
cancellation of the recruitment license of PMAC International
Management Services Inc. with office address at 2/F Cabrera III
Bldg., 18 Timog Avenue, Quezon City.
The agency was
found liable for three counts each of violation of Section 2 (a) and
(b) of Rule I, Part VI of the POEA rules. Under Section 2 (a), any
person applying with a private fee-charging agency is explicitly
prohibited to collect and/or charge any fee from an applicant worker
until he/she has obtained employment through its efforts or has
actually commenced employment. Section 2 (b), on the other hand,
prohibits the collection of excessive fees.
Besides
cancellation of license, the resolution, signed by POEA
Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz, also ordered that the officers and
directors of the respondent agency disqualified to engage in the
business of recruitment and placement of Filipino workers overseas.
The POEA also
imposed a fine of P60,000 and should refund the complainants,
representing their payments to the respondent agency and visa
application fee.
The agency has
been recruiting workers for housekeeping attendants, utility
workers, construction workers, kitchen helper, gardener, senior
caregiver, assistant cook, executive chef and restaurant managers,
among others, for deployment to the United States.
In a sworn
statement, the victims said that PMAC charged them $1,000 to $2,000,
or roughly P50,000 to P100,000, as initial placement fee to speed
the processing of their documents and immediate departure within one
to two months.
 --William
B. Depasupil
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