MANILA - The Department of Migrant Workers closed a Legazpi City consultancy on July 16 over alleged unlicensed recruitment and job-related charges reaching ₱350,000.
Cander Visa Consultancy Services was served a closure order after the DMW found that it lacked authority to recruit and place Filipinos in overseas employment.
According to the DMW’s July 16 alert and the Philippine News Agency’s report, applicants for jobs in Australia were first asked to pay ₱10,000, with additional charges allegedly reaching as much as ₱350,000 during the recruitment process.
“Under our law, no one can recruit workers unless licensed by the Department of Migrant Workers. Cander is not licensed,” DMW Assistant Secretary for Adjudication Services and Regional Operations Jerome Alcantara said.
He added that unlicensed canvassing, enlistment, transportation or offers of overseas work for a fee are prohibited recruitment activities.
The operation began after DMW-Bicol monitored advertisements posted on Facebook and aired by a local radio station. The promotions invited nurses, caregivers, speech pathologists and other jobseekers to an orientation on overseas employment.
DMW-Bicol Director Jeena Paclibar-Laceda said the advertisements prompted the regional office to investigate the establishment’s activities.
The DMW conducted its initial surveillance on June 12 before carrying out confirmatory surveillance with the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. An entrapment operation followed on June 19 and led to the filing of a case against one member of the establishment’s staff.
The department also said it had closed about 100 establishments under the current administration. That count excluded operations involving overseas Filipino workers found in unlawful or inhumane accommodation abroad.
Australia accounted for 4.4% of the Philippines’ estimated 2.19 million overseas Filipino workers in 2024, equivalent to about 96,000 workers, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest available survey on overseas Filipinos.
