THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday warned local recruitment agencies collecting excessive placement fees from Taiwan-bound overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that they risk having their license to operate suspended or cancelled.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion called on those who have been illegally overcharged by recruitment firms with placement fees ranging from P50,000 to P190,000 to immediately file complaints with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Taiwan or with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

He said some victims were made to pay as much as NT$94,463 or around P119,049 in placement fees.

This amount is six times bigger than the fees paid by qualified OFWs who were recruited directly through the POEA under DOLE’s special hiring program for Taiwan.

"Erring agencies violate POEA rules, which restrict recruiters to collect placement fees equivalent only to a month’s salary of the OFWs. Violators will be meted with suspension and cancellation of their licenses while their Taiwanese counterparts will be blacklisted," Brion said.

He added that about 80 percent of the agencies also allegedly require their victims, who are unable to pay them the full amount, to sign a loan agreement covering the unpaid placement fees.

There are some 80,000 OFWs currently deployed in Taiwan, majority of whom are factory workers. – Gerard M. Naval