The Department of Migrant Workers on Tuesday said it ordered the closure of a suspected illegal recruitment firm claiming to deploy workers to South Korea and other countries.

K-Monster, an agency in Makati City which claims to be involved in "immigration consulting", has been illegally recruiting workers bound for South Korea, Poland, Canada, and other countries, and charging them an P80,000 to P200,000 placement fee, according to reports received by DMW.

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople led the closure of the firm.

“Yung Korea kasi yung workers natin doon umaalis under a government-to-government program. So ito, very clear violation,” Ople said.

“Second, hindi allowed mag-recruit ang immigration consultancy firm. Kailangan licensed company, agency licensed by the POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) with approved job orders and validated employers. Clearly, itong kumpanya na ito ay walang ganoon,” she added.

(Our workers leave for Korea under a government-to-government program, so this is a clear violation. Second, an immigration consultancy firm is not allowed to recruit. It should be a licensed company, agency licensed by the POEA with approved job orders and validated employers. Clearly, this company lacks those requirements.)

Workers should not be charged with a placement fee, authorities added.

The firm presented a barangay business permit, but Makati City officials present said they had no records of the agency.

“Zero tolerance on the part of POEA and the Department of Migrant Workers kasi ang hirap na nga ng buhay tapos nagkakabaon-baon ang workers natin, pinagkakaperahan pa ng mga ahensyang katulad nito, peke naman," Ople said.

"Ang kawawa yung mga workers na umaasa sa kanilang pamilya. So pang-apat na namin na closure and sisikapin natin every week mayroon hangga't tumigil sila at magtanda,” she said.

(There will be zero tolerance on the part of POEA and the Department of Migrant Workers because life is already hard and our workers get into massive debt while fake agencies like this make money. It is the family of workers which suffer. This is already our fourth closure and we will try to do this every week until they stop and learn.)

The DMW urged the victims of the recruitment office to come forward so authorities could file charges.

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