MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has suspended, in at least seven local government units (LGUs), the recruitment of Filipinos to seasonal farm jobs in South Korea over reports of illegal recruitment.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, November 6, DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac said that the department, which oversees the LGU-to-LGU Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) among Philippine and Korean local governments, was being “very strict” about compliance with protective mechanisms for Filipinos being deployed for the program.
“For that reason…. The processing of workers from seven LGUs have been put on hold for various reasons, mainly because we have found cases of illegal recruitment in these LGUs,” said Cacdac, withholding the LGUs’ names.
Under the SWP, LGUs in the Philippines deploy Filipinos to work in short-term farm jobs in South Korea, in coordination with a partner LGU in Korea. Other countries like Vietnam and Laos have their own SWP agreements with Korea as well.
Cacdac gave the report following the release of a Rappler investigative story on Sunday, November 3, on how Korean brokers profited from deploying Filipino workers by charging large processing fees, while LGUs allowed it to happen.
In 2023, lawmakers and the media exposed labor rights abuses under the SWP, which has deployed Filipino workers since 2022. The DMW stepped in, imposing a moratorium on deployment in January. By February, the DMW released interim guidelines for LGUs, requiring all seasonal workers to also go through the DMW for their recruitment processes. This was to ensure that their contracts were vetted to have fair working conditions, and to make them members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
From February to present, around 6,100 workers who were monitored by the DMW were deployed under the SWP. Some 4,112 of them are currently working in Korea. Cacdac said that no major illnesses or deaths among workers have been reported since the DMW intervened, in contrast with six reported deaths when it was just LGU-to-LGU.
The DMW has also filed at least 37 illegal recruitment cases with 118 complainants related to the SWP. Undersecretary Bernard Olalia noted how these comprised more than half of the total illegal recruitment cases the DMW was handling. At least one of the complainants is an official of a local Public Employment Service Office.
“We’ve said this before but I will say it again. One of our main interests here is to eliminate the brokering system. We don’t want people roaming around local communities illegally recruiting and charging fees as against our jobseekers, especially our applicants for seasonal work,” said Cacdac.
“Our endgame — and there will be appropriate guidelines to be issued very soon — is for the DMW to completely take over the recruitment process,” he added.
No need for indictment
Cacdac also responded to the second part of Rappler’s investigative report, detailing the story of how a group of would-be seasonal farm workers scammed by an illegal recruiter had been waiting for financial assistance for almost a year.
They applied for assistance with the DMW’s Agarang Kalinga at Saklolo para sa mga OFW na Nangangailangan (AKSYON) Fund in December 2023, but seemed to be rejected by the DMW in August 2024 since their particular complaint against their recruiter, Nenita Yumul Sangullas, was dismissed in March 2024. This, despite Sangullas being arrested in June for illegal recruitment.
Cacdac said on Wednesday that he gave a directive to fast-track the AKSYON Fund request of this particular group.
“We were so strict as to say that we will not give an AKSYON Fund assistance without an indictment in court. But I had given the directive that the indictment in court is not necessary to provide AKSYON Fund assistance,” said Cacdac.
Lisa (not her real name), the acting leader of the illegally recruited group, confirmed to Rappler on Monday, November 4, that the DMW had reached out to her to provide the assistance. – Rappler.com