Recruitment agency refutes charges

A recruitment agency raided by the police last week said the mess was caused by its talent managers who wanted to cut corners with the law, and threatened to file appropriate charges against the talent managers.

Baseless and unsubstantiated accusations against the D & C Overseas Placement Agency and Training Center could bring negative implications to prospective Japanese investors, general manager Lourdes Francisco said. She maintained that their business operation is legal as shown by documents.

But she called the incident a "blessing in disguise." She said that the Friday raid exposed the alleged nefarious activities of talent manager Manny Venezuela and his wife Herminia.

Francisco lamented that although the agency is "not directly liable" to the talents but the Venezuela couple, whose authority as talent managers, is stipulated in a two-page "Recruitment Agreement" they signed with the company, the company nevertheless suffers the consequences of the duo’s non-compliance with company policies.

Venezuela, Francisco stressed is authorized to "pre-select, recruit qualified applicants for deployment to Japan and that the required age for applicants should be 21 years old and above."

However, based on police claims, most of the 47 girls were "16 to 17 years of age," which according to the general manager was a gross violation of the agreement embodied in the "kasunduan" signed by the recruited girl or talent, her parents and the talent manager – stating that only those 21 years and above should undergo training at the training center, before their deployment to Japan.