THE Labor department’s continuing campaign against illegal recruitment resulted in the arrest of three persons and padlocking of a local recruitment agency in Cebu after victimizing several job seekers wanting to work abroad, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
The three arrested were employees of Feljobs Manpower Services with office address in Lapu-Lapu City, whose license as a private recruitment and placement agency expired last 2014, the Labor chief said.
He said an entrapment operation was conducted by Labor regional 7 with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group operatives after several applicants complained they were asked to pay placement and other fees for deployment abroad.
“The DoLE has reinforced the anti-illegal recruitment campaign to look after the welfare of the OFWs and Filipinos who plan to work abroad. DoLE under the law is mandated to inspect and verify should various recruitment agencies violate laws, particularly on illegal recruitment,” Bello said.
Labor Director Exequiel Sarcauga said they had been monitoring the activities of Feljobs since October 2016 and discovered the agency continued to hire workers and publish recruitment advertisements in local newspapers despite the expiration of its permit.
The agency has also been proven extorting applicants of P850 per head as payment for identification card and for pre-employment medical examination.
The labor department is still monitoring four other recruitment agencies which might also be engaged in illegal activities and continues to check on other agencies’ operation permits to check if they are conducting illegal recruitment activities.