Philippine Consulate General in Macau only Interested in Passing its Accountability and Responsibility to Private Recruitment Agencies and in Exacting More Fees from its Nationals

Philippine Consul General to Macau Jaime Victor Ledda is more interested in passing his office’s accountability and responsibility to private recruitment agencies and in exacting more fees from its nationals in the territory when he stated that victims of illegal recruitment can only be solved if all Filipinos who would want to work in Macau should pass through legal authorities.  At the same time, the exploitative practices of recruitment agencies including overcharging of placement fees would worsen if this is the case.

What the Con Gen would want to do is require Filipinos to pass through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and their employment contracts should be verified and authenticated by the Philippine Consulate.

According to Con Gen Ledda’s report to the Department of Foreign Affairs - Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) as early as June 2009, he stated that the reason why Filipinos who go to Macau for work are vulnerable to illegal recruiters is because of the Macau government’s policy allowing direct hiring  applications by qualified Macau residents and companies to import non-resident workers. 

Thus he proposes to have a negotiated bilateral agreement with Macau to ensure timely verification of contracts by the POEA and the Foreign Service post (i.e. Philippine Consulate). And if this does not prosper it recommends unilateral implementation of procedures for the verification of new contracts and accreditation of recruitment agencies for job openings in Macau by the consulate.

What this simply means is that those who would want to work in Macau especially those who are unskilled need to pass through Philippine placement agencies and have to pay for the verification and authentication of their contracts to the Philippine consulate.  If this would be implemented it would be the primary responsibility of the agency to assist the workers in whatever capacity it can as provided to by the Magna Carta for Overseas Filipinos and not the Philippine government.

Illegal recruitment would also be institutionalized as one definition of this under Philippine law is overcharging of placement fees. As of now, domestic workers who comprise one half of the Filipino community in Macau already pay up to MOP6,000 to local recruitment agencies or 240% more than their starting salaries of MOP2,500. This would surely increase if they would be required to have partners in the Philippines. At the same time, the government would earn from the fees mentioned earlier. In Hong Kong this costs HK$297.50 for authentication of contract.

Another of the consulate’s recommendation to supposedly solve illegal recruitment in Macau is to conduct regular media campaign (print, radio, and TV) in the Philippines against this and drug trafficking. 

It does not even request funding for a shelter to house and feed victims of illegal recruitment and all others who are in need. Instead it seeks funding support to set-up a Filipino Resource Center for cultural representation, skills upgrading and training and general information about the Philippines.

The consulate would then continue to be negligent on the plight of victims of illegal recruitment and others who are in need because it can conveniently say that this is not their responsibility but those of recruitment agencies. It is also more important for the consulate to market the Philippines and its labor in Macau than to provide those in need a place to stay and eat before going back to the Philippines.

To put it simply, the Philippine Consulate would want to maximize its profits in Macau from the overseas Filipinos working there as the labor market shrinks for non-resident workers in the territory, at the same time shirking from its accountability and responsibility to its constituents by passing these to private recruitment agencies. The Philippine community in Macau should not let this happen.