Two Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Taiwan have sought assistance from Bahay Ugnayan after experiencing job mismatches and alleged exploitation at the hands of their employers and recruitment agencies.
In an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE’s Usapang OFW, Filipinas Joycel Balesca and Maricris Tenorio recounted how their promised caregiving jobs turned into entirely different and more strenuous work.
Joycel said her Philippine agency, Jing International Placement and Promotion, assured her of a caretaker position. However, upon arrival, she was assigned to a factory sorting chewing tobacco and was also made to work as a farmer for 14 months. She said she was later terminated without just cause.
Meanwhile, Maricris said her agency, Havilla International Manpower, promised a caregiving job for an elderly cancer patient. But upon arrival, the elderly person was neither bedridden nor a cancer patient—and Maricris was forced to clean both the home and the employer’s son’s factory. When she called her broker, she was reportedly told to lie and “just wait” for a new job order that never came. Exhaustion eventually caused her to suffer nosebleeds.
Both OFWs are now under the care of Bahay Ugnayan, led by Fr. Joy Tajonera in Kaohsiung, while their cases are being processed by Taiwanese labor authorities.
Labor Attaché David Des Cang confirmed that the Taiwan brokers involved have been suspended pending investigation.
“When I heard of these cases, I immediately requested our welfare officers to endorse the matter to the Bureau of Labor Affairs of Kaohsiung to investigate and resolve the case. This is wrong because under their contracts, they are caregivers,” he said.
Des Cang added that Philippine recruitment agencies may also face sanctions depending on the findings.
The case is currently awaiting resolution from the Bureau of Labor Affairs in Kaohsiung.