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The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has partnered with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to conduct a two-day training workshop for 80 representatives of manpower agencies in Hong Kong on fair and ethical recruitment in order to reduce deceptive and abusive practices against Filipino household service workers (HSWs).

During a call by the officials on 7 August 2018, Consul General Antonio A. Morales welcomed the holding on 8-9 August 2018 of the training under the ILO’s Integrated Programme on Fair Recruitment (FAIR Project) as a way to eliminate the illegal imposition of placement fees, among various abusive practices, against Filipino workers seeking employment in Hong Kong.

He thanked Mr Hussein Macarambon, FAIR National Project Coordinator, for leading a team of three resource persons and facilitators from ILO’s Country Office for the Philippines and FAIR Hiring Initiative (TFHI), a company that provides recruitment solutions to businesses and promotes the “no-fees-to jobseekers” policy, to conduct the landmark training workshop.

Labor Attaché Leonida V. Romulo said the FAIR project was aligned with the mission of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Hong Kong (POLO-HK), which accredits and registers under the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) foreign placement agencies to participate in the Philippines-Hong Kong recruitment corridor.

Resource speakers Angel Tatlonghari, Marie Apostol and Michi Barcelon will lecture and evaluate the participation of 40 representatives from the Association of Hong Kong Manpower Agencies, Ltd. (AHKMA), and another 40 from non-AHKMA members accredited by the POLO-HK on fair recruitment principles, guidelines and standards as well as specific case studies.

The FAIR project is based on ILO General Principles and Operational Guidelines that include 13 principles and 23 guidelines for governments, enterprises, public and private employment services, that are derived from international labour standards and related ILO instruments.

These principles and guidelines cover recruitment of all workers, including migrant workers, whether directly by employers or through intermediaries. They apply to recruitment within or across national borders, and through temporary work agencies, spanning all sectors of the economy.

Mr Macarambon said the POLO-HK workshop is a follow-up of a similar training conducted by TFHI with participants from the AHKMA and the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (SHARP) in November 2017, which in itself builds on the Ethical Recruitment training packages developed by TFHI for the ILO Decent Work across Borders Program.

SHARP and AHKHMA signed a Memorandum of Agreement where the parties agreed “to formulate a ‘Code of Ethics and Discipline’ for their members in order to ensure full compliance to existing rules and regulations, avoid cut-throat competition and promote ethical practices and standards.

The manpower associations also agreed “to support the initiative of the POLO HK to promote ethical recruitment practices and comply with the standards that it may impose as a pre-requisite for accreditation and renewal of accreditation”.

Consul General Antonio A. Morales (3rd from right), together with (1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th from right) Labor Attaché Leonida V. Romulo, Assistant Labor Attaché Ma. Nena G. German, Deputy Consul General Roderico C. Atienza, and Consul Paulo V. Saret, welcomes the team from International Labor Organization (ILO) Country Office for the Philippines (from left), Mr. Hussein Macarambon, Angel Tatlonghari, Marie Apostol, and Mercedes Barcelon, who were to hold a training workshop on 8-9 August 2018 for 80 manpower agencies in Hong Kong on fair and ethical recruitment practices in order to reduce deceptive and abusive practices against Filipino household service workers (HSWs).
Angel Tatlonghari, Consultant for the International Labor Organization (ILO) Country Office for the Philippines, engages participants of a training workshop on 8 August 2018 at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Hong Kong (POLO-HK) for manpower agencies on fair and ethical recruitment practices in order to reduce deceptive and abusive practices against Filipino household service workers (HSWs) under the ILO’s Integrated Programme on Fair Recruitment (FAIR project).
Labor Attaché Leonida V. Romulo speaks on 9 August 2018, the second day of a two-day training workshop at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Hong Kong (POLO-HK) for manpower agencies on fair and ethical recruitment practices of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) under the ILO’s Integrated Programme on Fair Recruitment (FAIR project).