POEA suspends recruiters of sex-for-flight victims

MANILA, Philippines - Four recruitment agencies that deployed two female workers who were allegedly forced to engage in “sex-for-flight” activities were barred from sending workers abroad.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Hans Cacdac ordered the suspension of Kozen International Inc., Azizzah International Manpower Services, Jobstar International Manpower Services, and Ideal Placement and Manpower Services.

Cacdac said the four agencies were found to have engaged in acts of misrepresentation, contract substitution, illegal collection of placement fees and other recruitment violations.

He said the special team tasked to investigate the “sex-for-flight” activities against labor officials recommended legal actions against the four firms.

Investigation showed that Elena Beleta applied with Azizzah as beautician and paid P15,000 as placement fee.

Her documents, indicating she applied as a nurse, were submitted to the POEA by the Kozen International. She left last March and was taken to the house of Mohammed Al-Faisal where she would work as a domestic helper.

Beleta ran away and sought refuge at the government-run welfare center, where she claims to have been sexually harassed by labor officials.

“The evidence is strong indicating that the complainant’s documents were reprocessed – having been deployed by a recruitment agency other than the one she originally applied with, and was made to work for a different position and employer other than what she initially applied and accepted for employment,” Cacdac said.

During a Senate investigation, another worker Grace Sales alleged she applied as a household service worker with the Jobstar International last December 2011 and required to pay a placement fee, which was to be deducted from her salary.

The investigators found out that Sales’ documents were processed by the Ideal Placement for a housekeeping position at the AMI Saudi Arabia Limited/Security Forces Hospital.

Sales left for Saudi Arabia on Jan. 27 last year and it was only on that day that she discovered that her documents were processed by the Ideal Placement and her employment contract indicated a different name.

She left her employer who tried to rape her and went to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office’s Bahay Kalinga where she worked as janitress.

Cacdac said records and Sales’ testimony showed that the Jobstar International and the Ideal Placement violated the POEA rules on recruitment and deployment of OFWs.

The POEA ordered the blacklisting of AMI Saudi Arabia Limited and Samaya Advanced Dental Polyclinic, the foreign counterparts of the four recruitment agencies.

Cacdac said the four local and two foreign agencies are disqualified from hiring Filipino workers.

“There is reasonable ground to believe that (their) continued operation will lead to further violation and exploitation of workers,” he said.