Teachers duped by US recruiter get POEA help

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said yesterday it would help teachers who have been charged excessively by a California-based firm for deployment in the United States.

POEA chief Jennifer Manalili said the agency would look for more complainants who have been victimized by the recruitment firm.

A teachers’ union in the US claimed that the firm recruited Filipino teachers to work in Louisiana schools and made them pay fees of $15,000 or more.

The American Federation of Teachers filed a complaint last Tuesday with the US Department of Labor calling for an investigation.

The complaint followed similar ones the union’s state affiliate filed last month with Louisiana officials.

The union said California-based Universal Placement International and its president, Lourdes Navarro, illegally collected the fees from teachers they recruited in the Philippines.

The union also claimed the company holds the teachers’ immigration documents to coerce payments.

A spokeswoman for Navarro did not immediately return a call for comment.

Manalili said “since the case has already been filed in the US court, the POEA will just get as many complainants to submit their individual affidavits against the recruiter.”

A labor official who spoke on condition of anonymity admitted that overcharging of placement fees is a common practice among companies recruiting Filipino workers.

“Most of these recruitment companies are providing immigrant visas that is why they are charging the Filipino workers with high fees because it takes a long time to secure immigrant visas,” he pointed out. — Mayen Jaymalin, AP