The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) shut down a suspended recruitment agency and its associated visa consultancy firm in Ermita, Manila over the alleged illegal recruitment of Filipino workers to European countries like Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic.

The Creative Artist Placement Service, Inc. and Schengen Visa CAPS, which were subject to the closure order, offered various occupations in Europe—employment as factory workers, farmers, housekeepers, cleaners, and drivers—with salaries of about ₱80,000.

As part of the application process, workers were charged from ₱120,000 to up to ₱150,000, after which they remained unemployed even after having waited for over a year.

Upon verification, the DMW discovered that the recruitment agency did not have approved job orders for factory workers or farmers in Poland.

The agency and its tie-up’s employees will be included in a ‘List of Persons with Derogatory Record,’ prohibiting them from operating under the government’s overseas recruitment program. In addition, they will face charges related to illegal recruitment.

As for the agency, its license is due for cancellation due to its recruitment violations.

So far, the DMW has shuttered seven establishments through its Migrant Workers Protection Bureau this year.