News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
April 29, 2009
CYM International, RJJ Lacaba financing company in hot water over recruitment
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A licensed recruitment agency and a private lending company must now appear
before the Senate and House of Representative and face a class suit from a local
NGO after it swindled 137 bus drivers out of their money and fervent dreams in a
massive illegal recruitment scam.
The Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization that assists
distressed overseas workers, announced today that it is filing a class suit
against CYM International Services and Placement Agency and RJJ Lacaba financing
company for committing illegal recruitment practices that led to the swindling
of 137 bus drivers in Dubai.
“We will sue for millions in damages and more importantly, for the court to
immediately
nullify the exploitative and onerous terms and conditions attached
to the loans amounting to P150,000 per driver,” Ople said.
ABAKADA party-list representative Jonathan dela Cruz, for his part, announced
that he filed House Resolution No. 1118 calling for a House inquiry into the
recruitment scam. He also castigated the POEA for the undue delay in hearing the
case. “The evidence is staggering and each of the 137 bus drivers have similar
accounts of what happened. Why is the POEA taking so long to hear this case and
in moving for the immediate cancellation of the license of CYM International?”
dela Cruz said.
Dela Cruz told media that ABAKADA and its allied group Social Justice Movement will
join the Ople Center in filing a class suit against the erring recruitment agency
and the lending company. “We will support the bus drivers and the
Ople Center in this legal battle,” dela Cruz said.
The
drivers appealed to the government for assistance in looking for
alternative jobs overseas and in meeting the expenses needed to pursue justice
and keep their households afloat.
“Mahirap po ang katayuan naming lahat. Nagresign kami sa aming mga trabaho
kasi POEA-accredited naman ang ahensya namin ‘yun pala wala namang totoong
trabaho sa Dubai at binaon pa kami sa napakalaking pagkakautang,” Claro
Oliver, one of the drivers said.
The owners of the company and lending agency failed to show up at the Senate
hearing conducted by Senator Jinggoy Estrada, chair of the committee on labor
and employment. Estrada instructed the committee secretariat to seek a hold
departure order against the management and owners of both companies.
Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople said 22 bus drivers who have recently
returned from Dubai as well as the wives of the drivers still at Ajman Camp
recently met with the
Ople Center’s legal counsel, Atty. Reynaldo Robles of
ChanRobles & Associates to discuss the case.
Atty. Robles said that more than a hundred bus drivers remaining in Dubai have
started sending forms to delegate powers of attorney to their wives. “The
documentary evidence is overwhelming, and we are pursuing this case precisely to
send a strong message to unscrupulous licensed agencies and abusive lending
companies that they should stop exploiting the vulnerabilities of our
workers,” he explained.
In a press conference held today at a coffee shop in Quezon
City, the bus drivers issued an appeal to the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration to act with dispatch on their case.
“Narinig po naming na may balak umalis ng bansa ‘yung mga may-ari ng
ahensya. Kung ito po ay totoo, sino pa po ang mananagot sa nangyari sa amin?”
the drivers said.
The POEA has scheduled its first
hearing on the case of the 137 bus drivers on
May 5.
END
