Recruiters back DMW new rules
Several recruitment agencies backed the implementation of the new rules and regulations on hiring land-based overseas Filipino workers issued by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
Among those are the Overseas Placement Association of the Philippines (OPAP), Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI) and Philippine Employment Agencies and Associates for Corporate Employers in the Middle East (Peaceme).
“We, the licensed Philippine recruitment agencies, commit our cooperation and invaluable support to the Department of Migrant Workers in its new promulgated rules and regulations governing the recruitment and employment of land-based overseas Filipino workers,” OPAP President Alicia Devulgo said, as she led the signing of the pledge wall.
More than 70 recruitment agencies have supported and signed the pledge wall.
In an interview with reporters on Friday, PASEI President Raquel Espina-Braceo said that they helped in crafting the new set of policies.
“It’s not that strict, it just simplified matters. And we were there since day one. It was based on the previous rules and regulations of the POEA,” Espina-Braceo said, referring to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
The new set of rules and regulations of DMW is said to be a continuing, consultative process.
Among its provisions is the one-strike policy, where the DMW will permanently cancel the license of an agency once it violates at least one of the 20 “cardinal sins” provided in the new rules.
Meanwhile, agencies with less serious offenses will face a suspension of six months to one year.
Recruitment agencies said it would be beneficial for them if the fake and anomalous agencies would be weeded out of the industry.
“We don’t see any problem in supporting the 2023 DMW rules, with its guiding principles of ethical and fair recruitment, ease of doing business and the rights-based approach. How can we go wrong?” Arnold Robillos Mamaclay, the president of Peaceme, said.
Meanwhile, Espina-Braceo reminded the aspiring OFWs to apply only in agencies with accreditation and job orders.