philippine government

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Go to http://www.hkpinoytv.com for more news on the Hong Kong Filipino community The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), the biggest alliance of migrant domestic workers' associations and unions, held a protest action against exorbitant and illegal fees being collected by employment agencies from foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong at the Legislative Council (LEGCO) Complex on June 18, 2013. The protest action was held just before the start of the the first LEGCO Manpower Panel public hearing on this issue at 4:30pm. The AMCB and its affiliates also participated in the public hearing and made oral presentations and submitted written proposals to the Manpower Panel of the LEGCO. The AMCB emphasized in their media statement the following overcharging issue vis-avis the existing Hong Kong law on agency fees: "Under Hong Kong's labour policy, licensed private employment agencies can only charge a maximum of 10% of the first month's salary to the workers. In the case of FDWs, the legal fee should not be more than HK$392. But in practice, employment agencies are charging FDWs between HK$9,000 - $15,000 and are in fact violating Hong Kong's law with impunity." In the LC Paper No. CB(2)1356/12-13(12) submitted to Legco, the AMCB urge the Hong Kong government to: "1. Give due diligence in investigating complaints of overcharging and effectively prosecute those found guilty of such act. Reforms should be done to make it more conducive for complainants to air their grievance; 2. Investigate and prosecute money lending agencies and other entities that connive with these employment agencies to ensure their collection of excessive fees; and 3. Institute a mechanism for regular consultation on the implementation of policies government employment agencies of FDWs. This regular consultation should be transparent and should involve migrant organizations and migrant serving NGOs." In an interview during the protest action, Eman Villanueva of the AMCB refuted the claim that 52 members of the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (SHARP) has scrapped the collection of placement fees from workers. According to Philippine law (POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 6, Series of 2006) licensed agencies can collect placement fee or service fee, provided that it should not be shouldered by the Household Service Workers (HSWs) but by the foreign principal. Agencies that charge placement fees on HSWs risk losing their license. He said that, in fact, the AMCB continue to receive complaints regarding illegal fees collected by SHARP member employment agencies. In this regard, AMCB is demanding that the Philippine government should still continue to prosecute these agencies since they continue to violate Philippine laws on charging agency fees through various illegal means and work around.