"Very few direct hires will be allowed to work abroad as the POEA tightens the rules for them to get Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC). The government has very clear rules on direct hires. It is only allowed under certain circumstances to ensure the safety of deployed OFWs worldwide. For the POEA to do it, every OFWs should be deployed abroad via legal recruitment agencies duly authorized and licensed by the POEA. The OEC serves as OWWA membership which is the basis of being legally deployed abroad and the name of the OFW is recorded on the POEA and OWWA database. Should anything happened to the deployed OFW, the government has records of the OFWs, their name, job description, country of deployment and even their employers or company. For the direct hires or illegally working OFWs who did not secure an OEC, things will be difficult for the POEA and OWWA to locate and rescue them should any untoward incident happen.  In an interview, Labor Secretary and POEA GB chair Silvestre Bello III said he supports the proposal since it would ensure the welfare of direct hires.  Most OFWs, especially the skilled and professional workers, resort to direct hiring for higher salary. To them they can evade the high placement fees and other processing fees  charged by the recruitment agencies. Being directly hired by foreign employers, they are free from spending a big chunk of their savings. The only downside is that, they are not recorded at the POEA and OWWA, putting them at great risk as compared to the agency-hired OFWs.  The Manila Times Columnist Atty. Dodo Dulay said  in his column that being a direct-hire, they only rely on the honesty, integrity and reputation of their employers with regards to honoring the terms of their contract. This kind of agreement exposes them to greater risk.   Direct hires or name hires are allowed under POEA regulations, applicants can only be exempted from the ban on direct hires if they will work for the following employers:   Members of the diplomatic corps;  International organizations; Heads of state and government officials with a rank of at least deputy minister;  Employers allowed by the Labor secretary through his or her discretion.  Sponsored Links POEA also set the requirements to be accomplished by direct or name-hires in order to be allowed to work abroad. Unless these requirements will be completed, direct hired professionals, skilled, low-skilled and household workers will be impossible to be deployed overseas.     Just recently, a new rule has been released that for the direct hires to secure OECs, they need to be connected to a local recruitment agencies. This was confirmed by local hires who are mostly going to European countries. The irony is that, the agencies also charge fees for processing similar to the placement fees they are collecting from agency-hired OFWS.    Unfortunately, the OFWs are not aware of the new system. Most of them already have their working visas, some of them has their plane tickets but they cannot leave the country because of the regulations from DOLE regarding direct-hires.  Now, if you are not bound to work for your relative abroad you are most likely to be denied of the OEC. However, the official statement regarding this rule is not yet released to the public by DOLE.  Bello admitted he does not approve of his discretionary power for direct hires since most applicants, who avail of it end up working for their relatives abroad. ""I do not want to encourage this because working for their relatives will guarantee they will not be abused,"" Bello said.  Bello issued the statement amid the reported increase in the number of aspiring OFWs, whose processing in his office has been delayed. Sources: Manila Bulletin, POEA, The ManilaTimes   Advertisement Read More:        ©2017 THOUGHTSKOTO"
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