Bongbong trains eye on agencies recruiting ‘promdi’ maids

Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday called attention to the reported recruitment of maids from the provinces by local employment agencies for the purpose of making a lot of money off their “innocence.”

Marcos, who is reportedly planning to run for the Senate in the elections next year, said the recruitment agencies used, as selling point in their print ads, the words “provincial maids,” which according to him, was a form of discrimination and a scheme to entice employers to hire from the recruits who are most likely unschooled, desperate for work and have very little or no knowledge of the “ins and outs” in Manila.

“The main sales pitch is the fact that they would not be able to seek help from a relative or from anyone they know if such a need arises. As one agency puts it, they can’t escape from their employers because they know nothing about Manila,” he said.

Marcos warned that such practice “is dangerous as it invites abuses.”

Aside from their meager salaries, the recruits from the provinces are being compelled to agree to a salary deduction scheme, where the agency takes away “processing and miscellaneous fees,” agent’s fee, transportation, board and lodging and food expenses from their three months salary, the lawmaker said.

“The deduction goes to almost P10,000. It’s saddening that the house help has to wait for three months before she gets her full monthly salary,” he said.

To stem this unfair and illegal scheme, Marcos has called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development “to act immediately and make sure that the full force of the law will be applied on people behind these unscrupulous employment agencies.” –With a report from PNA