DMW padlocks illegal recruitment company in Baguio

DMW padlocks illegal recruitment company in Baguio | Daily Tribune

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Friday shut down a Japanese language training center in Baguio City after discovering it was offering jobs to Japan without a recruitment license from the government.

The training center was identified as the Institute of Building Foreign Language Inc. (IBFL).

Undersecretary Bernard Olalia and Assistant Secretary Francis Ron de Guzman, along with the Migrant Workers Protection Bureau (MWPB), and members of the Baguio City Police, padlocked the office of IBFL along Ponce Street.

“The IBFL is neither licensed and authorized by the DMW to recruit and place Filipino workers nor does have any approved job orders for Japan. This is clearly an illegal recruitment of our countrymen who want to work in Japan,” Olalia said.

According to the DMW, the closure order came after one of IBFL’s graduates filed a complaint with the MWPB after receiving an offer to work in Japan. The complainant was given more than P57,000 to cover his plane ticket, service fee, and visa processing.

In a surveillance operation by the MWPB, it was revealed that IBFL has been illegally recruiting its Japanese language graduates as farmers, caregivers, factory workers, and food processing workers to work in Japan with salaries ranging from P80,000 to P100,000.

Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong expressed his full support in combating illegal recruitment and immediately ordered the cancellation of the business permit and license of IBFL.

With the training center’s closure, IBFL officers and employees will be included in the DMW list of persons and establishments with derogatory record to prevent them from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program.

The DMW will also file a case of syndicated illegal recruitment against the officers and employees of the training center.

Applicants who also fell victim to the IBFL are advised to contact the MWPB for the filing of cases. The MWPB may be contacted through their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dmwairtip and through their email at mwpb@dmw.gov.ph.