Seven Filipinos lined up for housekeeping jobs at a hotel in Dubai had been waiting out their deployment in a cramped, stifling, and dirty lodging house in Ermita, Manila, until the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) intervened on September 24, 2026.
The facility is also reported to be unregistered.
Authorities learned about the group ten days earlier. On September 14, one of the applicants went to the DMW booth at the Handog ng Pangulo event in Pasay City and asked for help, saying the group was short on food and living in poor conditions.
The inspection was led by the DMW’s National Capital Region office under Regional Director Atty. Ace Falconi Millar. Personnel from the Migrant Workers Protection Bureau and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration joined the operation, along with barangay officials and police.
Inside, the team found all seven applicants sharing overheated, overcrowded, and poorly kept quarters while their papers were being processed. Some of them told officials they had been placed there in connection with the Dubai hotel jobs they were expecting to take.
Millar said the agency would not tolerate such arrangements.
“Hindi natin hahayaang ang ating mga OFW at mga aplikanteng naghahangad lamang na makapagtrabaho sa ibang bansa ay mailagay sa delikado, hindi maayos, at hindi rehistradong accommodation. Ang kanilang kaligtasan, dignidad, at kapakanan ang ating pangunahing tungkulin. Kapag may humingi ng tulong, agad tayong kikilos.”
The DMW urged anyone preparing for overseas work to look closely at their recruiters, the terms of their recruitment, and the places they are housed before departure. Applicants who encounter or witness conditions that put their safety or welfare at risk are encouraged to report them to the department right away.
Suspected illegal recruitment or human trafficking can be reported to the DMW-NCR Migrant Workers Protection Division at (02) 87268909, by email at ncr@dmw.gov.ph, or through a message to the division’s Facebook page.
The seven applicants have since been moved to Kabayan Hotel, where they will stay while the investigation proceeds and other assistance is arranged for them.
