A group of local recruiters has declared a moratorium on the deployment of household service workers (HSWs) to Singapore.
Lucita Sermonia, ALRAS president, said they declared a moratorium in a bid to stop their counterparts in Singapore from collecting placement fees.
“We say no to placement fee collections that are done through deductions from the monthly salaries of the workers,” Sermonia said in a statement.
She said their group is pushing for reforms in the hiring of HSWs, including a stop to the collection of placement fees.
“We are telling our counterparts in Singapore about the need to adhere to Philippine laws and rules on overseas employment which prohibit the collection of placement fees from household service workers,” Sermonia said.
She called on other recruitment agencies to join the moratorium and also stop collecting placement fees to avoid cancellation of their licenses.
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Hans Cacdac said the government supports any move to uphold the household reform package, which includes the prohibition on placement fee collection.
He said any recruitment agency that will violate the policy would face cancellation of its license to operate and would be barred from deploying workers abroad.
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