SEAFARERs SOUGHT ATTY. MELANIO "BATAS" MAURICIO's HELP @ BALITAAN SA ALOHA

Atty. Melanio "Batas" Mauricio

(Atty. Melanio "Batas" Mauricio, assisting the seafarers in their petition before the POEA at Balitaan sa Aloha Media Forum)

 

Did you know that Filipinos could now be hired for overseas employment even if they did not apply with a local recruitment agency? This is now allowed by the Rules and Regulations of the Philippine Employment Overseas Administration (POA), which provides for the direct hiring of Filipinos for foreign employment, under a system known as “name hire”. 

 This information surfaced in the course of the Wednesday news forum, where the 12 Filipino seafarers who were barred from resuming their work with Gyron Crew, Inc. of Netherlands disclosed that they were not allowed to return to their work after the POEA suspended the license of Gyron Crew Philippines, Inc., the local agency. Responding to Atty. Melanio “Batas” Mauricio, Jr.’s queries, POEA lawyer Domingo blurted out that the seafarers could in fact be re-employed if they applied directly with Gyron Crew Inc. of Netherlands, precisely under the “name hire” rule of the POEA. This “name hire” rule allows the deployment of a Filipino worker to a job overseas if he himself is the one who will apply, Domingo added. 

Atty. Mauricio explained that Filipinos could now be hired for overseas employment even if they did not apply with a local recruitment agency. This is now allowed by the Rules and Regulations of the Philippine Employment Overseas Administration (POA), which provides for the direct hiring of Filipinos for foreign employment, under a system known as “name hire”. Explaining this during the Balitaan sa Aloha Hotel news forum hosted by veteran media personality Lolly Acosta last Wednesday, October 10, 2012, POEA adjudication lawyer Jerriel Domingo said the particular provision could be found at Rule II (14) of the Rules and Regulations, which mandates direct hiring even without the intervention of a local recruitment agency. This rule says: “14. Name Hire – shall refer to a worker who is able to secure an overseas employment opportunity with an employer without the assistance or participation of any agency.” 

This seems to be an amendment of the previous POEA rule which says that no Filipino can be deployed for any job abroad if their employment papers were not processed by a local recruitment company. “Name hire” or the direct hiring of our countrymen starts when a Filipino worker himself applies with a foreign employer. Domingo emphasized that the foreign employer is not the one which recruits. It is the Filipino which applies for the job abroad. If the foreign employer accepts the Filipino worker and confirms that a job is available for him, the worker then furnishes the POEA with his application letter, the response of the foreign employer, and other documents pertinent to the job that had been applied for. It is still the POEA that will process the employment contract between the Filipjno applicant and the foreign employer. 

Under this system, the Filipino worker avoids the payment of usually exhorbitant placement fees. He is even placed under the direct care of the POEA, instead of the placement or recruitment agency which is often indebted to a foreign principal.