DMW closes QC travel agency for alleged illegal recruitment

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Tuesday, ordered the closure of a travel agency in Quezon City allegedly involved in illegal recruitment.

In a 24 Oras report by JP Soriano, DMW Officer-in-Charge Hans Leo Cacdac personally led the shutdown along with police and barangay officials.

According to complaints filed by several applicants, Legal Connect Travel Consultancy charges fees between P200,000 to P380,000 for jobs in Italy and Malta.

"Axel", a complainant and former Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), said he applied as a hotel worker in Malta with the equivalent salary of P60,000 after he saw a post on social media from the agency. After waiting for 4 months, the Dubai-based consultant from the agency said all the positions have been filled. Instead of getting his money back, they said Axel would be deployed to Poland using a student visa, prompting him to report the agency to the DMW.

The DMW is still clarifying whether the agency was able to deploy any Filipino workers without a license.

“Madalas naman natin sabihin kahit natuloy man o hindi, basta mag recruit ng walang lisensya, illegal recruitment na yan na sang ayon sa batas,” said Cacdac.

(We regularly tell people that whether they go work abroad or not, the law states that recruiters with no licenses are engaged in illegal recruitment.)

Meanwhile, the agency denied the accusations and stated that their operations do not fall under DMW jurisdiction.

“These are groups of people who applied not in the Philippines. So, it’s not covered under Legal Connect, but under [a] different country in [the] Middle East. They applied there. Those are Filipinos, pero the contract is there,” said Joe Vincent Aguilar, the lawyer of Legal Connect.

“We have conducted a series of surveillance, online plus physical surveillance po, where our operatives have confirmed that these people are recruiting… aside from the fact that they have actual complainants na nag reklamo po sa atin (actual complainants who reported their complaints to our office),” said DMW Migrant Workers Protection Bureau Director III Eric Dollete. —Jiselle Casucian/RF, GMA Integrated News