Baldoz warns agencies, employers withholding OFW passports
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) today warned anew recruitment agencies and foreign employers confiscating passports and other travel documents of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as it continues to strengthen protection and welfare assistance to OFWs in line with President Aquino’s labor and employment agenda.
Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz issued the warning following reports about Middle East employers allegedly confiscating and holding on to the passports of OFWs who are working for them.
At the same time, Baldoz directed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to further strengthen assistance to OFWs with grievances against their foreign employers and agencies.
One of the items in the agenda is the setting up of a “one stop shop” not only for processing applications for overseas work but also redress of OFW grievances.
Baldoz also ordered labor officials at the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in the Middle East to verify and immediately act against employers who have confiscated the passports of OFWs.
The DOLE chief also called on kin of OFWs in the Middle East whose passports might have been confiscated by their employers to report this to the nearest POEA or DOLE office, so that the Department can alert at once the concerned POLO to act on cases involving confiscation of OFW passports.
She said recruitment agencies and foreign principals and employers are prohibited from withholding travel documents of OFWs as provided for by rules and regulations governing the recruitment and employment of OFWs.
She added that agencies and foreign principals found violating POEA rules will be blacklisted or penalized in accordance with Republic Act. No. 8042, as amended, and R.A. 10022.
POEA rules provide that disciplinary actions will be meted against foreign principals and employers of OFWs found violating Philippine laws, rules, and regulations on overseas employment.
The law provides that withholding or denying travel documents from OFWs is an act of illegal recruitment, which is punishable by imprisonment and a fine of up to a million pesos.
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