Online rating site to help OFWs pick recruiters launched

Overseas Filipino Workers may now help out other contract workers by rating recruitment agencies on the International Labour Organization's (ILO's) new web platform the Migrant Recruitment Advisor (MRA).

Likened to the travel and restaurant review site TripAdvisor, the ILO said migrant workers may use the site to "comment on their experiences, rate the recruitment agencies and learn about their rights."

"Through the MRA, workers interested to work abroad can get more information about recruitment agencies," said Jillian Roque of Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK).

"We believe migrant workers who have been recruited and employed abroad are the best recruitment advisors."

The platform lists thousands of agencies in Nepal, Philippines, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries.

It also uses a list of licensed recruitment agencies of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and incorporates a network of trade unions and civil society organisations in all target countries.

In due time, data culled from the site will be used to provide feedback to governments of source countries on the practices of licensed recruitment agencies to improve their monitoring systems.

Director Khalid Hassan of the ILO Country Office for the Philippines, said the new website can help "prospective Filipino migrant workers make informed decision or choice by going through online reviews."

“Migration should be a choice," he said. "The ILO supports countries like the Philippines in protecting the welfare of migrant workers through fair recruitment and rights-based migration."

MRA was developed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and created in partnership with the ILO Fair Recruitment initiative. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News