POEA orders agencies to help stranded jobseekers

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has issued Governing Board Resolution No. 11 requiring licensed recruitment agencies to assist applicants for overseas jobs who were stranded locally due to quarantine restrictions.

In a separate resolution approved last week, the POEA governing board also allowed private recruitment agencies (PRAs) to withdraw their escrow deposits in excess of P1 million.

It also suspended for two years the PRAs’ payment of additional escrow deposit “to provide relief to legitimate manpower exporters” and “help them cope with the impact of the pandemic,” said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III in a statement.

—Tina G. Santos