Recruiters lift moratorium on deployment of domestic helpers to Hong Kong

MANILA – A month after declaring a moratorium on the deployment of household service workers (HSWs) to Hong Kong, the organization of recruiters sending overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the former British colony said it is lifting the temporary ban starting tomorrow, March 27.

Shortly after an emergency meeting today, the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines Inc. (SHARP) made the announcement, saying that most of their counterparts in Hong Kong were able to convince employers to shoulder the recruitment cost and not pass them on to SHARP members or to the OFWs. Having the domestic helper shoulder the cost of her employment is against Philippine labor laws, particularly the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s No Placement Fee Policy.

“We have achieved our goal in staging the moratorium. We have gained the concurrence of a substantial number of Hong Kong agencies that their employers in Hong Kong are supposed to pay the costs of recruiting Filipino HSWs and not to pass these to them. We have convinced them on this matter,” said SHARP vice president Madolyn Uanang in a news release.

“But our most important achievement is that we were able to show to the Filipino people, especially to those OFWs wanting to work in Hong Kong as HSWs, that there is no need to shell out a big amount of money for a job contract in Hong Kong,” Uanang added.

SHARP, an association of about 60 licensed recruitment agencies deploying workers to Hong Kong, unilaterally declared the moratorium last February 27 to protest Hong Kong employers’ non-payment of service fees that force Hong Kong agencies to pass on the recruitment cost to Philippine stakeholders.

The moratorium caused the deployment of HSWs to drop remarkably, said SHARP, which deploys about 2,000 new hires every month.

The organization said it will soon release a list of Philippine recruitment agencies deploying HSWs to Hong Kong that do not charge placement fees and furnish local government units and Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) all over the country with copies of the list for the protection of job applicants.

“Sharing the list with the tri-media will also help job applicants find agencies that do not charge placement fees. We also hope job applicants for Hong Kong will avoid applying with recruitment agencies that continue to charge and collect placement fees in violation of POEA rules,” Uanang explained.

He said the POEA as well as the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong, will continue to closely monitor the operation of licensed Philippine recruiters deploying HSWs to Hong Kong for possible violation of the No Placement Fee Policy.

Last week, the POLO endorsed to the POEA 30 cases involving 16 agencies for investigation.–InterAksyon.com