Corruption Creates Difficulties Recruiting from Philippines

Corruption Creating Difficulties Recruiting from the Philippines.

New Zealand employers hiring workers from the Philippines were affected by a ban imposed by the Philippines Government on the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) issuing OECs for workers to leave the country to work abroad. The ban which lasted for three weeks during November 2017 prevented overseas workers (OFWs) obtaining the necessary Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) required before workers can leave the Philippines to work abroad. The reason for the ban imposed by the Philippines Dept of Labor was because of corruption within the POEA, the organization that lists the OECs. The ban prevented over 75,000 Filipino workers leaving the Philippines to take up employment around the world.

To date the investigation into corruption has resulted in the firing of 40 cleaners and security guards, while there has been no-one responsible in the POEA has been named. It seems little has changed with this dysfunctional organization.

There is no disputing the existing of corruption in the POEA, like most other Philippines Government Agencies, but why penalize so many Filipinos needing to travel abroad to work by keeping them trapped under economic bondage in the Philippines, rather than take up employment with better paying jobs overseas. By denying the freedom of travel is denying a basic human right which is included under the Philippines constitution, which guarantees its citizens freedom to travel.

Sadly, the POEA has evolved into a dysfunctional tax gathering agency, imposing unreasonable fees and unnecessary insurance policies on all OFWs before they can work abroad. This generates considerable funds to the government and it appears also the officials that administer the agency. The Philippines economy has now become depended upon the overseas remittances returned to the Philippines, generating over $US26 billion annually, but rather than supported by the Government, is seen as a cash cow to be milked by corrupt officials.

The POEA was established by the Philippines Government under former President Marcos to protect OFWs from exploitation. It appears that rather than protect them, they are more interested in exploiting the workers themselves. Prior to being elected President Duterte promised to create a new government dept to support OFWs, but due the resistance to change in the government it was just became another unfilled promise.

The recruitment of overseas workers is managed by a cartel of government licensed agents, who must pay a bond of $US100,000 to the POEA for this right. Naturally these agents need to recover their investments and pass the costs onto the OFWs. Sadly, Immigration NZ entered an agreement with the POEA demanding NZ employers to pay for all the costs of recruiting from the Philippines, something most employers are reluctant to do as they can obtain workers from any other countries without paying these costs. Migrants to NZ are not restricted by their own governments in migrating to NZ in the way Filipino workers are penalized.

Before NZ employers can hire from the Philippines they must obtain approval from the Philippines Embassy in Canberra’s POLO office, which requires additional expenses and paper-work by the NZ employer, unless they use an accredited POEA NZ recruitment agent. This is another delay and cost to NZ employers, most of which are not interested in doing, preventing hundreds of skilled Filipino workers the opportunity of working in NZ.

Frequently these licensed POEA Agents are suspended or lose their licenses if they receive a complaint from a worker, regardless if the complaint is genuine or not. The POEA has a list of suspended agents on their website. Unfortunately, when this happens it may require the agent to pay a bribe to some unscrupulous official to have their license suspension lifted.

Last year the POEA prevented workers migrating to NZ applying for an OEC directly themselves, rather requiring them to be “processed by a Licensed POEA Agent” to protect the cartel of their Licensed Agents. This creates unnecessary expense for the worker and is illegal under the Philippines constitution.

More recently the POEA has bought in additional red-tape, in defiance to a recent new legislation passed by the Philippines Government (Ease of Doing Business of 2017). This law was passed to prevent corrupt agencies like the POEA deliberately creating unnecessary red-tape to enable corrupt officials receiving kick-backs. The new delays of the POEA are preventing the release of OECs on fabricated reasons (often over a month), even though the new law states that permits should be processed within 3 days.

Filipino workers are desperate for opportunities because of lack of employment prospects in the Philippines – they have not been spoiled by a welfare state as in many western countries. They know that unless they work they do not eat. NZ is a preferred destination for Filipinos, though recent changes to NZ Immigration policies are making it more difficult for them to become long-term residents.

Sebastian Shaw

Sebastian is an international Immigration commentator specializing in international migration issues.

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