Recruiters group to stop sending domestic workers to Singapore

The Association of Licensed Recruitment Agencies to Singapore (ALRAS) yesterday declared a self-imposed moratorium on deploying Household Service Workers (HSWs) to Singapore beginning September 2.

Lucy Sermonia, president of ALRAS, said at the organisation’s general membership meeting attended by 120 member agencies, that the deployment of HSWs to Singapore will be suspended to convince some association members to abide by the HSW reform package on “non-collection” of placement fees, Manila Times reported.“In order to protect the industry, the association agreed that a moratorium be implemented in order to convince our Singapore counterpart agencies that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) does not allow the collection of placement fees under the HSW Reform Package of 2007,” she said.

They will also use the period to inform their Singapore counterparts that ALRAS members do not impose salary cuts on HSWs in Singapore.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Hans Cacdac, who was at the ALRAS meeting, stressed that the government will suspend erring agencies that violate the “no placement fee policy.”

Bureau of Immigration Airport chief Bienvenido Castillo also vowed to monitor tourist workers, to prevent illegal recruitment syndicates from sending undocumented workers to Singapore. The association will submit affidavits on the moratorium to Labour and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz next week. An estimated 150,000 Filipinos are employed as household service workers in Singapore. http://www.gulf-times.com/asean-philippines/188/details/360084/recruiters-group-to-stop-sending-domestic-workers-to-singapore