DEPARTMENT of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Maria Susana “Toots” V. Ople shut down a travel consultancy firm found offering bogus jobs in Poland.
Ople ordered the immediate closure of IDPLumen Travel Consultancy Services reported by job applicants to be charging as much as P122,000 from applicant victims.
The closure order was carried out last Wednesday by the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Branch (AIRB) of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in simultaneous closure operations on the firm’s headquarters in San Fernando, Pampanga and its offices in Santiago City, Isabela and Tabuk City, Kalinga.
“Please do not transact with travel consultancy firms offering jobs abroad,” Ople said warning that the firm is engaging in Illegal recruitment.
She added that there is “a one-way ticket to jail waiting for illegal recruiters running this racket victimizing job applicants.”
Ople warns that “the operations were conducted by the AIRB in coordination with local government officials and police units in the respective cities.”
She was informed that surveillance operations conducted by the AIRB revealed that IDPLumen, under the guise of a travel consultancy firm, offered jobs in Poland for truck drivers, welders and factory workers promising monthly salaries ranging from P35,000 to P124,000.
IDPLumen neither has a license from the POEA to operate as a recruitment agency nor does it have any validated overseas job orders.
The company also collected processing fees of as much as P122,000 from prospective job applicants under two options—either regular upfront payments or a “fly now, pay later” scheme.
The DMW Secretary ordered the filing of illegal recruitment charges against IDPLumen. She is also urging victims of the agency to contact the DMW so they can assist the agency in the filing of cases against IDPLumen.
With its closure, IDPLumen and its staff will be included in the DMW’s “List of Persons and Establishments with Derogatory Record.” Inclusion in the list bars the company and its personnel from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program, aside from facing illegal recruitment charges.
Victims of illegal recruitment schemes may report their cases directly through the AIRB’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/airbranch/?mibextid=ZbWKwL, through their email address: airbranch@dmw.gov.ph or their hotline at +63 2 8721 0619.