POEA suspends ‘escrow fund’ for recruiters hiring domestics to Kuwait
THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) temporarily suspended the implementation of the “escrow fund” requirement for all foreign recruitment agencies (FRAs) hiring and deploying domestic workers to Kuwait.
POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said on Tuesday that the suspension of the $10,000 minimum escrow deposit requirement for all FRAs in Kuwait was because the government wanted it implemented in the whole of the Middle East and other countries hiring Filipino household service workers (HSWs) or domestic workers.
“We are now in the process of concluding our agreements with other countries, not just Kuwait, and thereafter we will implement the escrow deposit requirement, not just for Kuwait, but for all FRAs that are recruiting and hiring Filipino domestic workers,” Olalia told The Manila Times.
Industry sources have told The Times that deployment of HSWs to Kuwait has remained anemic despite a huge demand for their services and even as the Philippine and Kuwait governments have signed an agreement providing for additional safety nets to Filipino workers.
The agreement followed a three-month deployment ban because the FRAs in Kuwait were not in total agreement with the guidelines issued by POEA on escrow deposit.
Olalia admitted that there were concerns from FRAs in Kuwait that they were being singled out because the deposit of an escrow account, which will serve as guarantee for monetary claims of HSWs in case of contract disputes, was not required from FRAs in other countries.
He said, however, that deployment of HSWs to Kuwait has picked up since the deployment ban was lifted, contrary to claims by some players in the recruitment industry that it has not taken off because of the opposition of FRAs in Kuwait to the new POEA regulation. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
The post POEA suspends ‘escrow fund’ for recruiters hiring domestics to Kuwait appeared first on The Manila Times Online.