CA affirms DOLE ruling on agency for withholding applicant’s passport

The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the nine-month suspension of license, or a fine of 1450,000, imposed by the government in 2014 on a recruitment agency which withheld the passport of an applicant for overseas job employment.

Affirmed were the 2015 and 2017 resolutions issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which upheld the suspension and fine imposed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in 2014 against Spring Resources Management & Promotions, Inc. (SRMPI).

The CA, in its March 14 decision written by Associate Justice Edwin D. Sorongon, ruled that “SRMPI failed to prove that DOLE committed acts tantamount to grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it affirmed the decision of the POEA Administrator.”

Case records showed that Sharon May B. Gumabay applied with SRMPI for overseas employment in Kuwait. She submitted her passport and other travel documents. The agency required her to pay 140,000 in placement fee and assured her of employment.

Gumabay withdrew her application for her failure to raise the amount for the placement fee. She then demanded the return of her passport and travel documents. When SRMPI refused, she filed a complaint with the POEA.

She charged SRMPI with violation of the POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Em- ployment of Land-Based Overseas Workers, particularly on “unreasonable withholding or denying travel or other pertinent documents from workers for monetary considerations or reasons….”

Only Gumabay appeared when the POEA set three hearing dates on the complaint and despite the extension of time sought by the recruitment agency to file its answer.

Thus, the POEA, on Aug. 6, 2014, promulgated its order suspending the license of SRMPI for nine months or a fine of 1450,000 since it was the agency’s second offense. It ordered the return of Gumabay’s passport and other travel documents.

SRMPI elevated the issue to DOLE and sought the lifting of the suspension.

On Dec. 29, 2015, DOLE issued a resolution that treated SMRPI motion as a petition for review, and dismissed it for lack of merit. When its motion for reconsideration was denied, SMRPI elevated the issue before the CA.