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By William Depasupil and Rafael
Santos Reporters
A MOTHER and her daughter have become the latest victims of
recruiters who promise job seekers non-existent jobs in China.
Maria Cristina Miel and her
daughter Michelle were recruited by Ar-Zel Management Services,
Inc., a licensed agency, but without job orders to recruit teachers
for China.
The Miels said they went to China
to work as teachers or factory workers but ended up broke, jobless
and abandoned.
They were able to find temporary
work as teachers but were terminated when the school could not
secure work visas for them.
The Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA) has warned that unskilled
Filipino workers, particularly women, should be wary of recruiters
who promise jobs in China because there are no jobs waiting for them
there.
POEA Administrator Rosalinda
Baldoz said Tuesday that the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Public
Security Bureau have not relaxed its immigration policy in
connection with unskilled labor, including domestic helpers.
Baldoz said employment of
domestic helpers is close to foreigners and limited only to Chinese
nationals.
China’s large population is
enough to fill domestic jobs in the country, according to Director
Alejandre Diaz of the POEA anti-illegal recruitment branch.
“There are too many people in
China for this kind of job, and that is why it is highly improbable
for them to recruit Filipinos legally,” he said.
Baldoz said some Filipino women
were also recruited to work as waitresses but ended up as
prostituted women.
Diaz said Filipino recruiters are
allegedly in cahoots with some Chinese people in the recruitment of
the workers. He said China’s large population is enough to fill
domestic jobs in the country.
The Department of Foreign Affairs
has also reported that several Filipinos under their care went to
China to work as domestic helpers as promised by their recruiters.
The DFA said most victims carried
Chinese business “F” visa classification, which were processed
and secured through visa agents from Shandong Public Security
Bureau. “F” visa holders cannot work in China.
Other Filipino women went to
China to work as teachers but most of them were eventually deported
because the Chinese government did not give them work visas, Baldoz
said.
Diaz said the POEA has yet to
receive a formal complaint from any of the victims, but promised
that his department would assist them in filing the appropriate
cases against the illegal recruiters.
The DFA has confirmed that China
needs English teachers, but not all schools are authorized by the
Chinese government to hire foreigners.
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