DMW shuts school for illegal recruitment

DMW building. File photo / ABC

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has closed a Japanese language school in Davao City after it was found to be illegally offering jobs in Japan.

The department’s Migrant Workers Protection Bureau (MWPB) shuttered the Kanou Japanese and English Academy Inc. on Wednesday after authorities confirmed the school was recruiting students without a proper license from the DMW.

“DMW-MWPB operatives conducted online and physical surveillance [on] Kanou, with an office in Davao City. It has been confirmed that applicants are required to undergo a language training program, worth P24,000, for more than four months,” the DMW said in a statement.

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It added that Kanou was sending applicants to unspecified recruitment agencies that would send them to Japan through technical intern training and specified skilled worker programs.

Some of the jobs offered were for domestic services like housekeepers and caregivers, or in the industrial and agriculture sectors like factory workers, welders, and farmers.

After closing the school, the DMW said it would ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to revoke Kanou’s registration and cancel its business permits.

Its owners and officials face charges of illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate, which is punishable by life imprisonment and a fine ranging from P2 million to P5 million.