Filipino women, Eternal Victims of Illegal Recruitment in China

(Note: Filipinos should be aware China DOES NOT OFFER Domestic Helper jobs to ALL nationalities except their own. If you are offered with such jobs, then you are another victim. China government DOES NOT ISSUE work visa Z to such "job orders." Be careful.)

Many Filipino women are victims of illegal recruitment in China.

While it is illegal to employ foreign domestic servants in mainland China many “housekeeping service” agencies however continue to thrive on this lucrative housekeeping market undermining both the safety and welfare of foreign workers.

Filipino women are easily lured by a promise of better financial gain at 3,000 RMB per month working as nanny / tutor. But the whole wide world knows this is good to be true.

According to my investigation, most women work technically like slaves.

Many of them wake up as early as 5:00A.M. and sleep as late as 1:00AM. No medical insurance. No health coverage. Day-off without pay.

The Recruit

We will call her Ms M. She is Filipino, 44 years old. She is a victim of human smuggling, trafficking, exploitation, and illegal recruitment in Shenzhen City, China. She is greeted with disappointment the moment she set foot in her Chinese recruiter’s office in Shenzhen. She knew her world would soon fall apart.

Ms M. entered Shenzhen City from Hong Kong on January 08, 2010. She arrived in Hong Kong from the Philippines on the same day.

She is offered a “job” while still in the Philippines by a Filipino “associate recruiter” of this Chinese illegal recruiter.

According to her account, she would work either as a “caregiver” or “hotel employee” in mainland China. In fact she was even “interviewed” in Cebu City, Philippines prior to departure, “proof,” she says, that “there is job waiting for me here.”

After paying more than 13,000 Philippine pesos (about 2,200 RMB) for her medical, transportation, visa and accommodation in China, she left the Philippines January 08, 2010.

It is believed the recruiters knew the exact condition Ms M. is going to experience in China.

Ms M. further recounted that she was “shocked” when she discovered she is a victim of this illegal operation because there were many other Filipino women in the agent’s office.

“Some are crying, some are desperate to go home, others are hopeless,” she further said.

It is also observed that escaping from the agency is impossible given the enormity of security detail and the fact that these women don’t know anybody outside the agency.

They are neither allowed to go outside nor to talk to strangers.

According to Ms M., “many of whom are young, innocent women aged 19 – 23 and inexperienced workers.”

Based on the report I received, it is also believed there are more than 20 Filipinos living the agency as of this writing; all victims of illegal recruitment.

New recruits are arriving every week.

The Recruiter

The recruiter is a frequent traveler to many parts of the Philippines where she is believed to have local connections in her recruitment activity. It is alleged she recruits these women to work in the mainland China without expensive “placement fee.”

While no one knows her exact personality, she is known for her elusive and calculating character. She is notorious within the Filipino community. However, not many want to speak about it openly.

She claims, one person says, to be a “powerful and well connected” Chinese businesswoman.

She dreams to become a ‘rich woman someday,” as she succinctly pointed in her email to this writer. However, this same arrogance threatened the integrity and decency of the Chinese people.

She is known to the Filipino community all over China in many names. She is Godmother Tracy, Tracy, Miss Lu, Miss Tracy Lu, among many others.

She is said to consistently change name based on “circumstances surrounding the nature of her business,” said one informant. Although her office address and contact numbers are known, nobody among my informers know her exact identity.

There is no available picture of “Tracy Lu” as of this writing.

However, my informants claim it is easy to identify her in person. Her website says she operates business in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

When Ms M. asked why she is issued 1 month tourist visa prior to departure in the Philippines, Tracy Lu was quick to quip that “work visa will be processed within 1 month in China.”

Passport

The exact circumstance surrounding this case is unknown to the complainant and this writer. What is known, however, is her passport is believed to be in the hands of her employers or the agency. She holds a 6-month tourist visa.

On February 22, 2010, the Philippine Consulate asked Tracy Lu to return the passport safely to Ms M. Tracy Lu declined the consulate’s request.

It is understood Tracy Lu will only return Ms M’s passport after she pays Tracy the amount of 6,000 RMB for her visa and agency fee. Otherwise, her passport will not be released.

It is unclear as to who holds her passport.

Kicked out from employer’s residence

To make matters worse, Ms M. was “kicked out” from her employer’s residence Guangzhou City over dispute with the employer and the agency. With only 80RMB on her pocket, she left her employer’s house at around 7:00AM, on a cold and rainy January 22, 2010. Her salary and overtime pay totaling 3,400 RMB was not paid.

Ms M. is currently under the care of the Philippine Consulate in Guangzhou, China. The Consulate is doing everything it could to help her.

It also came to my attention, after a series of investigation I personally conducted, that Tracy Lu, who identifies herself as “president” of a housekeeping service in Shenzhen and Shanghai is serving these women a “contract” which I personally believe to be null and void given the nature of her business operation.

The contract gives Tracy Lu the “right” to deduct a total of about 14,000 RMB for every Filipino worker she successfully “employs” illegally in China. That amount is payable in the next 10 months or so, the contract further say.

Additionally, the agency is given “right” to hold the first month’s salary of the worker, which is about 3,000 RMB per month as “deposit.”

To make sure she can promptly collect the money, the agency opens each new worker a bank account.

My investigation shows such bank account bears a name other than that of the worker.

The case I mentioned here is only one among countless undocumented others. And it is painful for a Filipino like me to see the rights of my compatriots hang in the balance because there is a woman like Ms Tracy Lu who thinks she can continue to do what she is doing because, she believes she is “powerful” and she is “Chinese.”

In fact, she proudly said in her email, “even immigration does not ask what is legal or what is not.”

I feel this recruiter should be stopped by all legal means. She should learn her lessons that smuggling, exploitation, illegal recruitment are a criminal offense.

--- The author is a lecturer of physics and freelance researcher from the Philippines. He is based in Shanghai, China.