A travel agency was ordered shut by the Department of Migrant (DMW) workers for illegally recruiting prospective job seekers abroad for an exorbitant price.
The DMW closed down the operations of High Dreamer Travel and Tours Services located at Paseo del Congreso in Catmon, Malolos, Bulacan. The firm was allegedly recruiting Filipino workers for bogus jobs in Europe in exchange for large amounts of fees.
Undersecretary Bernard Olalia, head of the DMW’s Licensing and Adjudication Services cluster, led the closure operations along with the Migrant Workers Protection Bureau (MWPB) in coordination with the Malolos City police.
“Once again, the Filipino community in Poland proved to be a valuable ally in stopping these illegal activities. We thank them for their vigilance in reporting the illegal activities of High Dreamer to our Migrant Workers Office in Prague (MWO-Prague),” DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said.
MWO-Prague, which exercises jurisdiction over Poland, conducted an investigation and discovered that High Dreamer was offering overseas jobs to unsuspecting Filipinos through Facebook. It has no valid license to offer jobs overseas and is not a registered recruitment agency with the DMW.
The agency offers jobs such as production workers, agricultural workers, cleaners, restaurant workers, construction workers, and cleaners in various European countries, particularly Croatia, with monthly salaries between P70,000 and P80,000.
It was learned that High Dreamer collected a processing fee of P100,000 and a placement fee of P300,000 from each applicant. The payment is non-refundable and can be settled in three installments.
Officers and personnel of High Dreamer will face serious charges of illegal recruitment, be included in the DMW’s “List of Persons and Establishments with Derogatory Record,” and be banned from participating in the government’s overseas recruitment program.