Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) officer-in-charge Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac leads the closure of the Quezon City office of legal Connect Travel Consultancy Services, Inc. on Jan. 23, 2024 for allegedly engaging in illegal recruitment. (photo: Mark Balmores)
The Philippine office of a Dubai-based travel consultancy company was shut down for allegedly offering fake jobs in Italy and Malta to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and prospective overseas job seekers, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the closure of the the office of the Legal Connect Travel Consultancy in Barangay Veterans, Quezon City was based on the complaints of three applicants who said that their applications were either stalled or ignored by the recruitment agency.
“The activities of this Legal Connect Travel Consultancy are illegal—illegal recruitment, illegal collection of fees and others,” said Cacdac.
Referring to the concerns of the three complainants, Cacdac said all of them were victims of exorbitant placement fees in exchange for promises of agricultural jobs as fruit and vegetable pickers, dairy farm workers as well as caregivers in Italy and hotel crew service jobs in Malta.
Two of the complaints were from Dubai-based OFWs while the third complaint was lodged by an applicant in Manila.
The agency, according to Cacdac, offered monthly salaries from P60,000 to P100,000 but imposed “processing” fees ranging from P250,000 to P380,000.
“They would collect an initial ‘placement’ fee from P80,000 to P100,000 with the balance to be paid in installments. Processing times were deceptively long, with applicants waiting for 6 to 8 months for jobs that never materialized,” said Cacdac.
He said officers and personnel of the agency are now facing serious charges of illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate which is punishable by life imprisonment and fines ranging from P2 million to P5 million.
In addition, Cacdac said the company’s officers and personnel shall be blacklisted from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program.
Cacdac also issued instructions to the DMW’s Migrant Workers Office in Dubai (MWO-Dubai) to work with law enforcement officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to further investigate LEGAL CONNECT’s illegal activities there.
The DMW urges other applicants who fell victim to report their cases to the MWPB through their Facebook page or email address at https://www.facebook.com/dmwairtip and [email protected].