The head of a Catholic bishops’ commission on migrants called Thursday for a probe of a Hong Kong lending company that seized some 1,400 passports from Filipino workers there.
“Overseas First Credit should be investigated [and] prosecuted,” said Bishop Ruperto Santos, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People. “It is very sad story where, with their precarious and dire needs, our OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] become victims of heartless and scrupulous persons.”
He added that the company was using passports to blackmail workers into paying an excessively high-interest rate.
Santos also urged the Philippine officials in the Chinese territory to help the workers obtain new travel documents.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong police confiscated some 1,400 passports, which were supposedly used as collateral for loans of OFWs from the lending company.
The use of passport as collateral is not allowed under Foreign Service Circular No. 2014-99 of the Department of Foreign Affairs. As a result of the illegal act, the document will also be invalidated.
To apply for a new passport, the workers have to submit an affidavit stating that their old passport was used as collateral for a loan.
They will also be included on the watchlist of the DFA.