Jobseekers warned vs 'consultancy' firms

MANILA, Philippines - Police officials yesterday warned jobseekers against “consultancy agencies” that may be working as illegal recruiters.

The police issued the warning following a raid on Euro-Am’s Immigration International Consultancy in Ermita, Manila Thursday, during which operations manager Arjay Yoro, 26, was arrested for alleged illegal recruitment and estafa.

Company officials Albert Antiquero and Milagros Alicaway, who were not present during the raid, are also facing the same charges.

Complainants Princess Donabelle Manalo, Jackielou Manalo, Cristy Bolon, Marissa Rena Alonia and Raul Mangubat said they met Yoro in Quezon province last December where he allegedly told them he could help them secure a job in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Police said the firm allegedly collected more than P70,000 from one of the complainants; P40,000 from another and P60,000 from the other three.

They later found out that the firm was not registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency.

Yoro told police that their firm was not an illegal recruitment agency. A company leaflet states: “We are a consultancy not a recruitment agency.”

However, Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU), said it could be just a ploy to avoid liability from illegal recruitment charges.

Mabanag pointed out that the company’s leaflet states that there is a promise of a job for those transacting with the agency.

“Jobseekers should be more cautious and check first with the appropriate government agencies before they transact with and give money to these companies that promise them employment abroad,” he said.

Chief Inspector Cherry Lou Donato, chief of the General Investigation Section of the QCPD-CIDU, said the company acts like an “in-between” for jobseekers to find themselves a recruitment agency.

However, Donato said that if it was indeed just a consultancy agency, it should collect only consultancy fees and not payments to process jobseekers’ papers.

 – Reinir Padua