Number of recruitment agencies drop from 1,200 to 700

MANILA, Philippines—The number of active manpower agencies licensed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has dropped by almost half from 1,200 in the 2007-2008 period to less than 700 active companies now, a recruitment consultant said Sunday.

In a news release, Emmanuel Geslani said this decline is caused by the following: a declining manpower pool, quality employers, illegal recruitment syndicates, unrestrained deployment of maids, and the strict provisions of Republic Act 10022 which penalizes agencies with confiscation of private property aside from stiff fines and longer jail terms.

Geslani said these factors have convinced many small players in the industry to simply return their licenses to the POEA, while those with suspended or cancelled licenses decided to just close shop.

In a related development, recruitment industry leader Jackson Gan defended the performance of Hong Kong Labor Attache Romeo Salud against Migrante International’s attacks.

Salud was recently reprimanded by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz for berating a domestic helper. The incident was caught on a phone camera and went viral on the Internet.

In Taiwan, where he was a labor attaché for three year, Salud performed well, Gan said.

“There was never an incident during his three years’ stay…(that any of) the 100,000 OFWs in Taiwan complained or filed a report against Salud,” Gan added.

Gan also said that during the 2008 Asian crisis, when some factories had to shut down and repatriate Filipinos, Salud was working 24/7 in keeping OFWs employed by transferring them to other factories where there were vacancies. He said Salud even negotiated with other factory owners to retain the OFWs with a shifting schedule instead of terminating them.

That time, Gan said, Migrante International was agitating OFWs in Taiwan to go home. –INQUIRER.net