PHL recruitment firms lift moratorium on deployment of domestic workers to Hong Kong

An association of recruitment agencies in the Philippines lifted on Wednesday its self-imposed ban on the deployment of domestic workers to Hong Kong.

According to a report of the South China Morning Post (SCMP) news site, the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines, Inc. (SHARP) imposed the ban after the Philippine government insisted that no placement fees will be collected from Filipinos aspiring to work as domestic workers in Hong Kong.

SHARP accounts for the deployment of around 63 percent of all Filipino household service workers (HSW) in Hong Kong.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac earlier told GMA News Online that the government ruling is part of a “tightened enforcement of the household workers reform policy, which includes the ‘no placement fee’ prohibition.”

The SCMP noted that the placement fee levied on maids was equivalent to one month’s salary. This was banned by the Philippine government years ago.

SHARP, an association of 60 recruitment agencies, imposed the moratorium on the deployment of domestic workers to Hong Kong on February 27 this year in protest of the Philippine government ruling on placement fees.

Cacdac, however, said the placement fees — some reaching P80,000 — should be shouldered by the employers not the job applicants.

The licenses of the recruiters found violating the government ruling will be canceled, he said.

On Wednesday, Cacdac told GMA News Online via text that he hopes the government’s insistence on the no placement fee policy “has curbed the practice of illegal exactions and debt bondage of our domestic workers.”

“We shall continue to enforce the no placement fee policy, which means cancellation and disqualification of erring PHL and HK agencies,” Cacdac said.

New demand

While SHARP has accepted the no placement fee policy of the Philippine government, it has a new demand, this time to its counterpart recruitment agencies in Hong Kong.

According to the SCMP article, SHARP “wants Hong Kong agencies to pay their counterpart agencies in the Philippines HK$5,500 more in total recruitment fees to cover expenses such as plane tickets and insurance.”

The report noted that Alfredo Palmiery, SHARP president, said recruitment agencies in the Philippines intend to charge Hong Kong employers a higher recruitment fee.

However, Teresa Liu Tsui-lan, vice-chairwoman of the General Chamber of Manpower Agencies (GCMPA), told SCMP that she knows of very few Hong Kong agencies that have agreed to SHARP’s demands.

The GCMPA is an association of 300 Hong Kong recruitment agencies.

Almost half of the 300,000 domestic helpers in Hong Kong are from the Philippines. – VVP, GMA News