Licence of seafarer agency cancelled for illegal charging of placement fees

By: Matikas Santos - 11 years ago

Philippine Overseas Labor Employment office. Photo from www.poea.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) has cancelled the license of a seafarer manning agency for illegally charging placement fees on fishermen deployed to a Taiwanese fishing vessel.

POEA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in a statement Monday that two cases were reported against Jenar Maritime Incorporated which charged P75,000 and P80,000 as placement fees.

“Jenar Maritime Incorporated, in two separate cases, was found to have violated Section 1, Rule IV, Part II of the POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Seafarers,” Cacdac said in the statement.

“The said Rule specifies that ‘agencies shall charge from their principals manning fee to cover services rendered in the recruitment and deployment of seafarers. However, manning agencies shall not charge any fee from the seafarers for their recruitment and deployment services’,” he said.

In the first case, a complainant alleged that the agency required him to pay a placement fee of P75,000 for his deployment to a Taiwanese fishing vessel. POEA said that the complainant was forced to write a statement that he had not paid the placement fee because he was afraid to lose the job after he was referred to a loan agency.

In the second case, the complainant was required to pay P80,000 for deployment to a fishing vessel in Taiwan and was also made to write a statement that he had not paid despite being referred to a landing agency, similar to the first case.

Cacdac said charging or accepting directly or indirectly any amount of money, goods, services, or any fee or bond for any purpose from seafarers carries a penalty of cancellation of license. It also carries the accessory penalty of refund of the fee charged or collected from the seafarer.