SINGAPORE — Despite an industry-led moratorium on the deployment of domestic workers from the Philippines to Singapore that took effect this month, employment agencies here said they have not been greatly affected, although the waiting time for a Filipino maid is longer.

This is because recruitment agencies in the Philippines that are not participating in the moratorium — aimed at cracking down on the practice of imposing placement fees on Filipino maids — continue to send maids here, said agencies here.

Five local employment agencies TODAY spoke to said the waiting time for a maid from the Philippines is now two months, compared to four to five weeks previously, but the moratorium’s impact was otherwise minimal. The agencies declined to be named.

In July, the Association of Licensed Recruitment Agencies for Singapore announced that it was staging a moratorium on the deployment of maids to Singapore until more employment agencies here stop deducting placement fees from maids’ salaries when they begin work here.

Such fees can run as high as S$2,400. The association wants employers to bear the cost instead.

Ms Lucita Sermonia, President of the association, said in a press release that the temporary halt in deployment will be “lifted as soon as 60 per cent of the Singapore employment agencies have accepted the new terms of hiring”.

The 120-strong association represents a relatively small portion of the over 1,000 recruitment agencies in the Philippines, but its member agencies make up most of the agencies that recruits Filipinos for domestic work in Singapore.

Nonetheless, as the moratorium only applies to the association’s member agencies, other agencies can continue to supply workers, said Ms K Jayaprema, President of the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore (AEAS).

Mr Vicente Cabe, Labour Attache at the Philippines embassy in Singapore, acknowledged: “The association’s move is a private decision made by its member agencies, the Philippines is a free democratic society, the government cannot stop them.”

And even with laws against imposing placement fees on workers in the Philippines, as well as laws in Singapore limiting deductions from a worker’s salary, some agencies continue to charge maids, he pointed out.

For example in Singapore, some agencies deduct maids’ salaries for six to eight months, even though Singapore laws only allow a maximum of one month of salary deductions per year of contract, for a two-year contract.

Still, by requiring employers to bear the full placement fees, Filipino maids may end up being “priced out of the market” in the long run, they said.

A representative from one agency pointed out that some workers have contacted her from the Philippines asking her to help them come to Singapore as they are desperate for work, but her hands are tied.

Added a staff member from another agency: “(The industry)’s very disorderly — in the end, the maids are still the milk cows.”

Ms Jayaprema, however, was optimistic. “Everybody’s moving forward — most local agencies are mindful of the policy and many have started to collect the placement fees from employers,” she said.

Ms Bridget Tan, President of Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), a non-profit organisation providing assistance to migrant workers in Singapore, said the latest round of efforts is different in that it is the first major move by market players — not the government — to push for enforcement.

The moratorium is a “sneak preview to what is to come” — an inevitable change in industry practices to better support migrant rights — and at the very heart of the issue is the need for employers to recognise domestic workers as equals to any other working individual, she said.

Employers must learn how to manage their relationships with maids in the same way all employers manage employees, she added.

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore has stopped accepting new applications for employment agency accreditation since June, as part of efforts to enforce its regulations protecting maids.

The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration, which processes migrant applications and accredits Singaporean employment agencies, has some 200 accredited Singapore agencies on its records, but just half are active. Fewer than 10 agencies have lost their accreditation this year so far.

As the cost of hiring a Filipino maid rises, some agencies have seen a rise in demand for maids from other countries such as Indonesia and Myanmar. Others say “transfer maids” — those already working in Singapore but are looking for a change of employers — now make up a bigger part of their business, with lower costs and less hassle involved.

One agency said: “The industry has always learnt to cope with these problems, what else can we do but tighten our belts.”