Migrant advocates and recruitment industry representatives are again at loggerheads over a provision in the proposed new department for Filipinos overseas, this time, on the possible prohibition on the collection of recruitment fees from job applicants.
In a news statement, recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani expressed concern over the proposal contained in the “ethical recruitment” provision of the bill, which he said could compromise the competitive edge of Philippine Recruitment agencies (PRAs) deploying overseas Filipino workers (OFW) abroad.
“If this policy is signed into law, the government will see a drop in the deployment of over 200,000 new hires annually recruited by private recruitment agencies who cannot stay in business if the fee permitted by law is removed by this new bill,” Geslani said.
In some other countries, he added, the collection placement fees from applicants is legal, like Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, the US, Israel, Cyprus, Poland, the whole Middle East and Africa.
Here in the Philippines, the practice is also legal, except for household service workers seafarers, as long as it is equivalent to the one month’s salary of the person to be deployed.
Who should pay?
Geslani said placement fee is vital to the PRAs since they use it to “pay the services of their employees, rent, overhead expenses, visa fees, medical exam fees, transportation and other miscellaneous expenses.”
He estimates at least 300 PRAs will be forced to shutdown their operation if the “no placement fee policy” becomes a law.
Geslani claimed the ethical recruitment provision was submitted by Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute Head Susan Ople.
In a separate statement, Ople belied the allegation stressing it was Camarines Sur Second District Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. who inserted the ethical recruitment amendment.
She also noted Geslani’s statement does not represent the position of all the PRAs.
“Why would any respected member of the industry even oppose the highest standards for ethical recruitment?” Ople said.
In Villafuerte’s definition of ethical recruitment, which is very similar to that being used by the International Labor Organization, placement fee collection is still allowed but it should be paid by the employer, rather than the worker.
Under such arrangement, employers would tend to pay more to recruiters compared to that if the placement fee will be charged to the applicant.