Whereas, Memorandum Circular No. 5, Series of 1985, fixed the placement fees of overseas contract workers (OCWs) at five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) and documentation fee at one thousand five hundred pesos (P1,500.00) for private employment agencies and service/construction contractors, respectively;

Whereas, in response to the opening of the Taiwan labor market to expatriate workers, the Administration promulgated a Special Hiring Program for Taiwan;

Whereas, in compliance with the requirement of the Taiwan government for limited participation of licensed agencies to service the Taiwan labor market in the initial stage of Taiwan's labor importation program, only fifteen (15) Philippine recruitment agencies were strictly pre-screened and pre-qualified as lead agents to address the needs to Taiwan employers;

Whereas, lead agents have been assigned a limited number of co-agents pre-qualified by DOLE to participate in the Taiwan program;

Whereas, the terms and conditions of employment offered in Taiwan are comparatively superior in terms of wages and worker protection.  Filipino workers are covered by Taiwan's labor laws.  The Taiwan government likewise requires a security deposit from the employers to ensure their compliance with worker protection mechanisms set by the government;

Whereas, the high costs of doing business in Taiwan results to an exceptionally high cost of placing Filipino workers in the country;

Whereas, there is a need to adopt a sound and responsive policy with respect to the recruitment and placement of workers for the Taiwan labor market in order to maximize our share of the said market;

NOW THEREFORE, the POEA Governing Board in a meeting duly convened, hereby resolves to allow authorized agencies for Taiwan to collect from each worker deployed, on a monthly installment basis, the amount equivalent to one month salary of the worker but in no case shall be less than twelve thousand pesos (P12,000) at a manner of payments to be determined by the administration.  Said amount shall cover expenses unique to the Taiwan market including, but not limited to, market development costs, broker's fee, and Philippine and Taiwan office overhead.

A placement fee of at most five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) shall likewise be paid by the worker prior to his departure to the jobsite.


(Sgd.) FELICIANO O. JOSON, JR.
Administrator