By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
As part of the government’s persistent crackdown on illicit firms preying on aspiring Filipino migrant workers for profit, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has shut down an alleged illegal recruitment agency in Binondo, Manila in an operation on Tuesday.
MAXILUM Recruitment Agency, also operating as Cell Venus Elite Workforce Manpower and Recruitment Agency Inc., is said to be recruiting workers without a valid license.
Said enterprise promises prospecting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with jobs in New Zealand, Japan, and Canada enticing them through social media with monthly salaries ranging from ₱90,000 to ₱100,000 under 3-year contracts.
Applicants were required to pay placement and processing fees ranging from ₱35,000 to ₱72,500 through online payment channels, but were neither deployed nor processed for overseas employment.
Prior to the closure of the office, the owner of the firm named Celisti Maxilum was arrested in an entrapment operation on March 25, 2026, together with her Russian fiancé and their two armed bodyguards.
The Migrant Workers Protection Bureau (MWPB), meanwhile, reminded those seeking work overseas to only transact with licensed agencies and approved job orders on its website: www.dmw.gov.ph.
jpv
