Filipino workers who want to work abroad specifically domestic helpers are reminded by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) about the importance of going through the legal process of overseas job application.

This is in connection with the fact that there are travel agencies that sends Filipino workers in Singapore to work as domestic helpers. This process is considered an illegal recruitment as travel agencies are not allowed by law to recruit workers for employment abroad.

Filipino workers who want to work abroad must send an application to a recruitment agency that has a valid POEA license. To be sent abroad via illegal means increases one’s chance to be maltreated overseas because they do not have valid working documents. In fact POEA Chief Jennifer Jardin-Manalili cited a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Singapore that said that almost all (99%) domestic helpers in Singapore that ran away from their employers got their job through the help of a travel agency.

The Philippine labor attaché in Singapore, Rodolfo M. Sabulao, reported that this illegal recruitment is done by travel agencies in the Philippines that connive with placement agencies in Singapore that is not accredited by the Philippine Embassy.

The report also cited that at least 5 Filipino domestic helpers who were deployed in Singapore using this illegal scheme run away from their employers after a short period of employment (3 to 5 months) and seek shelter at the Philippine Embassy. Financial problem is one of the reason why they run away as they are also forced to sign a work contract that indicate that they will receive a salary lower than what is required by law.

The work contracts that the domestic helpers are asked to sign indicate a salary ranging from USD250 to USD350 a month and they have no day off. But another bad thing is that the workers only receive a subsidence allowance of USD

20.00 per month because the Singapore agency automatically deducts their placement fee which is equivalent to seven months salary.

The POEA Chief stressed that household workers should receive a monthly salary of $400. Manalili also said that the travel agencies that are involved in this illegal recruitment is already under investigation