Labor broker who recruited migrant caregivers for farm work indicted

Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) Prosecutors have indicted a Chiayi City labor broker for helping a client bring two male Philippine nationals to Taiwan as caregivers and put them to work planting and picking betel nut.

According to the Chiayi City Prosecutors Office, the 58-year-old labor broker, surnamed Pei (裴), conceived of the plan in 2022 after learning of a husband and wife in Chiayi County who were looking for help tending their betel nut crop.

Acting on Pei's instructions, the husband, surnamed Lu (呂), went to a hospital in Kaohsiung pretending to suffer from dementia, which diagnosed him and provided him with a certificate of disability.

Lu then took his mother to another hospital in Chiayi City, where he obtained a second disability certificate for her.

At that point, prosecutors said, Pei applied and received permission from the Ministry of Labor to recruit two male caregivers from the Philippines for Lu and his mother.

After the two workers arrived in Taiwan in November 2022, Lu and his wife, surnamed Wei (魏), put them to work planting and harvesting betel nut in Chiayi County's Zhongpu Township.

From their monthly salaries of NT$27,000 (US$848), each worker had NT$15,000 deducted and paid as a brokerage fee to Pei, prosecutors said.

However, the two men only lasted around one month in the job before deciding it was too difficult. In December of 2022, they called Taiwan's 1955 hotline to ask for help, prompting an investigation into the circumstances of their employment.

After closing its investigation, the Chiayi District Prosecutors Office indicted Pei on Monday for violations of the Employment Service Act.

Prosecutors declined to indict Pei on human trafficking charges, on the grounds that he had informed the workers before they came to Taiwan that they would be working on a betel nut plantation, and did nothing to restrict their freedom once they arrived, the office said.