Villar seeks probe of recruiters holding OFWs' passports 'hostage'

Manila, Philippines - Senator Manuel Villar Jr. called yesterday for an investigation into the practice of some recruiters of taking the passports of prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) “hostage” while their deployment papers are being processed.

Villar filed Senate Resolution 462 urging the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resource development to conduct an inquiry into this illegal practice, which he said has caused a lot of pain for Filipinos hoping to find work overseas.

According to Villar, he has received numerous reports about licensed recruiters withholding the passports of the job applicants while their employment papers are being finalized. These agencies then demand money from the applicants in exchange for the retrieval of their passports.

“Recruitment agencies allegedly demand money to job applicants who wish to claim their passports and other travel documents before their employment papers are finalized,” Villar said.

One such case cited by Villar involved an applicant who was charged P12,000 by his recruitment agency just to get his passport back.

“This deceitful practice allows recruitment agencies to profit from applicant workers even if they fail to deploy them,” Villar said.

He explained that this is an illegal practice as specified in Section 5 of Republic Act 10022, the amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

Under the law, a licensed recruitment agency would be considered guilty of illegal recruitment when it “withholds or denies travel documents from applicant workers before departure for monetary or financial considerations or for any other reasons.”

“Per RA 10022, an agency’s failure to deploy a contracted worker without valid reason is considered an act of illegal recruitment,” Villar said.

Villar has been active in protecting the welfare of OFWs, particularly those in distress through his Sagip OFW, which has facilitated the repatriation of Filipinos in conflict areas.

Meanwhile, the Villar Foundation has undertaken construction of a resource and live training facility on livelihood generation and entrepreneurship in Las Piñas City, which will be called the Sipag Center.

Villar, who serves as chairman of the foundation, said he wanted to arm more Filipinos with knowledge and opportunity to beat poverty.