POEA padlocks 2 firms for illegal recruitment

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has padlocked two recruitment agencies for illegally recruiting Filipino workers.

POEA chief Hans Cacdac said Danz Consultancy Management in Pasay City and LJP Travel Assistance Agency in Manila were found to be operating without the necessary license.

Following complaints by several of the agencies’ alleged victims, Cacdac said the POEA’s anti-illegal recruitment branch placed the two agencies under surveillance.

POEA investigators discovered that Danz was recruiting dairy farmers for Japan and grape pickers for the Raffaldini Vine Yards Winery in Italy.

“A staff of the agency even assured the POEA operatives who posed as job applicants that they can be deployed through a direct-hiring scheme,” Cacdac said.

Applicants were required to pay placement fees by depositing money into the bank account of Mayumi Yupangco, he said.

As for LJP, Cacdac said it was closed in May but has reopened at a new location. The firm was recruiting nurses, waiters, room boys and security guards for non-existent jobs in Palau and requiring applicants to pay P23,000 placement fee and P4,500 medical fee.

The two agencies have been disqualified from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program and their owners face charges of illegal recruitment, Cacdac said.