A travel consultancy firm engaged in offering employment opportunities in Poland has been ordered shut down after the investigation conducted disclosed that the job vacancies are bogus.
No less than Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople has ordered the closure of IDPLumen Travel Consultancy Services on Wednesday, Dec. 7 in simultaneous closure operations on the firm's headquarters in San Fernando, Pampanga and its offices in Santiago City, Isabela and Tabuk City, Kalinga.
Based on the report, the travel consultancy firm has been asking P122,000 from each applicant.
“Please do not transact with travel consultancy firms offering jobs abroad. That's Illegal recruitment. A one-way ticket to jail is waiting for those who operate it," said Ople.
The operations were conducted by the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Branch (AIRB) of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in coordination with local government officials and police units in the respective cities.
The IDPLumen Travel Consultancy Services, according to surveillance operations conducted by the AIRB, has been offering jobs in Poland for truck drivers, welders, and factory workers with monthly salaries ranging from P35,000 to P124,000.
"IDPLumen Travel Consultancy Services does not have a license from the POEA to operate as a recruitment agency nor does it have any validated overseas job orders," said Ople.
It also collected processing fees of as much as P122,000 from prospective job applicants under two options – either regular upfront payments or a “fly now, pay later” scheme.
Ople ordered the filing of illegal recruitment charges against IDPLumen.
She is also urging victims of the agency to contact the DMW so they may be assisted in the filing of cases against the agency.
With its closure, Ople said IDPLumen and its staff will be included in the DMW’s “List of Persons and Establishments with Derogatory Record.”
Inclusion in the list bars the company and its personnel from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program, aside from facing illegal recruitment charges.
Meanwhile, the DMW announced that victims of illegal recruitment schemes may report their cases directly through the AIRB’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/airbranch/?mibextid=ZbWKwL through their email address: [email protected], or their hotline at +63 2 8721 0619.