THE DEPARTMENT of Migrant Workers (DMW) has ordered the closure of a maritime consultancy firm in Manila for illegal recruitment and operating without a permit.
In a statement on Thursday, the DMW said clients of JCB-Success Maritime Consultancy reported that they were promised deployment within a three-month period, which never happened.
The victims were asked to pay P75,000 as placement fee and urged to endorse the company to other potential clients.
“We encourage victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking to report these crimes to us,” DMW Secretary Maria Susana V. Ople was quoted in the statement. “Workers’ protection is one of the core functions of the DMW,”
JCB-Success Maritime Consultancy did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
The firm was allegedly operating without a permit from the DMW. It offered seafaring jobs ranging from engine cadets and yacht stewards among others.
The DMW said it will file illegal recruitment cases against the consultancy firm’s owner and officers.
The department has said it is working closely with the Department of Justice (DoJ) to strengthen the monitoring and action against human trafficking activities in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a separate statement, the DoJ said it is currently revising departure guidelines for travelers leaving the Philippines to combat human trafficking.
“The underlying problem here lies in the fact that for these new schemes, it is extremely difficult to distinguish regular passengers from potential victims of human trafficking,” it said. “The main consideration of the department is not only stopping trafficking per se, but also lessening the victims of this heinous crime.”
In January to February this year, 57 departures from the country’s international airports were tagged as possible cases of human trafficking, based on data from the Bureau of Immigration. — John Victor D. Ordoñez