Filipinos warned over mainland jobs scam

The Philippines Consulate General in Macau has warned Filipinos against taking up semi-skilled job offers in mainland China, allegedly being touted by local agents.
According to the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs, the statement was jointly released by the Beijing embassy and the consulates in Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xiamen and the two SARs “as they have observed an increasing number of cases of illegal recruitment of Filipinos”.
“The embassy and the consulates general are warning Filipinos anew to beware of falling prey to unscrupulous parties who offer them jobs as household service workers, teachers, or musicians in China,“ the warning released on Tuesday said.
Authorities believe many prospective overseas Filipino workers are recruited through agents in Macau and Hong Kong for jobs as household service workers, despite the prohibition on foreigners from working in the domestic-service sector in mainland China.
“This problem is not very significant” in the territory, the Consul General of the Philippines in the MSAR told Macau Daily Times. “Filipinos who are already working here are quite aware of the restrictions,” Renato Villapando explained.
The warning was mostly aimed at “those who directly come from the Philippines and eye Macau as a stepping stone to mainland China,” the diplomat said.
The statement explains that in some cases illegal recruiters try “facilitating travel of the recruited individuals to China using tourist visas and via another city in the region, posing as consultancy companies that offer ‘training seminar’ in China for professional positions, when in fact these ‘trainees’ end up being hired out illegally as household service workers”.
Other Filipinos are recruited via Internet, authorities added.
“In the past months, the embassy and the consulates general have assisted and repatriated Filipino victims of illegal recruiters who were recruited for non-existing or illegal jobs, and who ended up staying in China with inappropriate documentation,” the statement stressed.
The Philippines diplomatic offices pledged “to continue to assist and repatriate Filipinos who find themselves in difficult situations as a result of their illegal recruitment”. They also promised to “continue to coordinate with the local Chinese authorities on the arrest, investigation and prosecution of these illegal recruiters”.                                    

V.Q.