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The Philippine Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, has issued a warning
against illegal matchmaking agencies after learning that some
Filipina women married South Korean men through illegal match-making
agencies, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement
posted on its website Sunday.
The department quoted Philippine Ambassador to
South Korea Luis Cruz as saying in a report that these agencies act
as a front for mail-order brides, and that the South Korean
government is set to crackdown on interracial matchmaking agencies
that violate local laws and use deceptive advertising.
“The Philippine Embassy reminds the public of
Philippine Republic Act 6955 or the Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law, which
makes it illegal for a ‘person, natural or juridical, association,
club or any other entity’ to ‘establish or carry on a business
which has for its purpose the matching of Filipino women for
marriage to foreign nationals, either on a mail-order basis or
through personal introduction,’” Cruz was quoted as saying.
He also noted that the law makes it illegal for
anyone “to advertise, publish, print or distribute or cause the
advertisement, publication, printing or distribution of any
brochure, flier, or any propaganda material calculated to promote
the prohibited acts” earlier mentioned.
Further amendments include its applicability to
mail-order bride schemes using “mails or websites in the
Internet,” he added.
While matchmaking agencies are considered legal
in South Korea, the South Korean law requires these agencies to be
registered and to be aware of issues concerning inter-racial
marriages and ethics, said the ambassador.
Cruz said some Filipinas enter South Korea
through marriages arranged through these matchmakers. Many of them
are lured by promises of work or a better life.
“As of January 31, 2008, approximately 5,000
Filipinos married to South Koreans reside in the peninsula, some of
whom met their respective spouses through matchmaking agencies,”
Cruz said.
-- Xinhua
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