…The discovery of trafficked laborers, including 65 Filipinos, at the Borealis plant in Antwerp led the Belgian government to grant them temporary residence…

Among the 65 workers, Henry, the Batangueño pipe fitter, couldn’t stand working for Flemish manpower agency Job Talent...

The agency sent him to live in the city of Zaventem while going to Antwerp as a pipe fitter, around an hour away..

… with regulations that seemed unnecessarily expensive and punitive…

…Henry and his four other housemates had to give up €95 (P5,784) a week, bringing down his take-home pay…

Job Talent refused to be interviewed. They only emailed a response saying, “We are indeed the leading organization in the employment of Filipino technical workers. We work 100% in compliance with Belgian labor laws and are accredited in the Philippines.”

Manpower Resources of Asia … is listed as Job Talent’s Philippine partner in numerous job listings…

IREM said it remains “committed to fully cooperate with the Belgian authorities and to provide all available evidence to allow the authorities to ascertain the correctness of the conduct of the company.” It also pointed out that almost a year since, it has yet to contend with official charges…

Borealis maintained its innocence, implying in a statement that culpability lies with IREM…