ConGen: Don’t be hardheaded

Catalla (Left) speaks to the media

CONSUL General Bernardita Catalla appealed to Filipino workers in Hong Kong to be wary of persons offering jobs in other countries.

Catalla issued the call after a Filipino domestic worker sought her help after paying $32,000 for a job in Russia that was apparently non-existent.

“Some people are so hardheaded. Even if they know there’s illegal recruitment, they still believe all those promises,” Catalla said during a recent media briefing.

She said the worker who emailed arrived in Hong Kong just this March but has lost her job after being offered work in Russia.

“She’s now having problems because she’s being recruited to Russia. This person already lost her job. She’s now in Macau,” Catalla said.

“She already paid $32,000. She has a problem because she has to move and exit to China or exit to Macau. I’m sure a lot of them still believe there are jobs out there in Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Canada and the United Kingdom,” she added.

Catalla said the Philippine Consulate General will go after the illegal recruiter who promised the non-existent job in Russia once the victim executes an affidavit at the Assistance to Nationals Section.

“If this person is identified and the agency is established, surely we will file a complaint. The helper will lodge a complaint against the person or agency and I‘m sure the (HK) Department of Labour will address it,” Catalla said.

She noted that, in a previous case involving the illegal recruitment of Filipino workers in Hong Kong for jobs in Turkey, the Labour Department suspended two agencies.

“We, here in the consulate, made representations with the consulate general of Turkey.

Complaints were also lodged with the Department of Labour through our technical working group. I understand, at least two agencies were suspended and fined,” she said.

“The problem here is that we learn about the problems only after a year or so when our workers here in Hong Kong file complaints and execute affidavits against certain recruiters,” she added.

The Philippines prohibits “third-country recruitment” or the hiring of Filipinos, who are already working abroad, for jobs in other foreign countries.

The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong earlier this year suspended the biggest provider of Filipino domestic workers in the city after more than 200 domestic workers accused it of offering non-existent jobs in the United Kingdom and Canada.

As of September, at least 250 complainants have filed complaints against Emry’s Employment Agency.

The complainants said they paid at least $10,000 each so their papers to work in the UK or Canada could be processed.

The owner of Emry’s had insisted to POLO officials that she did not intend to dupe the jobseekers and promised to refund the applicants.

She claimed that she was also duped by her business partner in the UK who allegedly got the applicants’ money.

She also complained about the POLO decision to stop the processing contracts submitted by Emry’s, saying that this was done “without due process”.