By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
February 18, 2008
AFTER moving successfully to scrap new rules on direct-hiring by foreign employers, overseas Filipino workers are now eyeing protests against the imposition of “training fees” of up to P45,000 under President Arroyo’s “supermaids” program.
Suspended last week was the implementation of a rule requiring foreign employers to post a repatriation bond of $5,000 per employee to guarantee the repatriation of the worker or of his remains, in the event of death, and a performance bond of $3,000 per employee to guarantee payment of the employee’s salary for the duration of the employment contract.
The POEA governing board is set to convene today to review the circular.
John Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante International-Middle East, asked government to rescind the POEA’s Guidelines on Household Service Workers.
Monterona said while it purportedly eliminates the payment of placement fees to recruitment agencies, the circular requires all household service workers or domestic helpers to undergo training.
Cyrin Pinpin, chair of Migrante-United Arab Emirates chapter, said recruitment agencies are making a killing from the “supermaids” training fees.
Pinpin also said that even prior to the implementation of the guidelines, domestic helpers bound for the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia reported they were forced to pay P5,000 to P10,000 in training fees.
Pinpin said recruitment agencies and their affiliate training centers now charge training fees of up P45,000 from each applicant seeking to be a domestic helper abroad, citing reports from Migrante’s Baguio chapter.
After undergoing “training,” the prospective domestic helper is then required to pay P1,000 for “placement assessment.”
According to Dolores Balladares of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil), “what the agencies have lost by way of banning placement fee, they are now reaping from the training fees.
Balladares said the “supermaids training fees” are worse than placement fees which may only amount to the equivalent of an OFW’s one-month salary. “The “supermaids training fees” have no limits and thus have opened the floodgates for an endless list of charges levied by recruitment agencies.”
“It serves no purpose whatsoever for OFWs but to burden us with even more fees,” Balladares said.
A study by Migrante International found that a person needs to spend at least P17,000 for the initial stage of the application process to become a government-certified OFW. These fees go to various government agencies for the issuance of copies of birth and marriage certificates, clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation, passport fees, authentication fees, the Overseas Employment Certificate, Artist Accreditation Certificate, Medicare/PhilHealth, membership fees for the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, among others.