People in debt because of labor export companies

(Baonghean) - Dozens of households in Que Phong district are at risk of losing their homes because they are due, but still cannot pay the debt they borrowed to export labor.

This money was borrowed by people from the Social Policy Bank and then returned to SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company but was not returned, even though they were not allowed to go to work abroad as promised.

People are confused

In a dilapidated house in Na Nga village (Muong Noc commune, Que Phong district), Ms. Le Thi Thuy (45 years old) is worried to the point of losing sleep and appetite because of the 60 million VND bank loan that is about to come due. The family has a few fields of rice, working for hire all year round is just enough to live, the woman with a haggard face said, that is too much money, her family does not know where to turn.

Ms. Le Thi Thuy talks with Nghe An Newspaper reporter. Photo: Pham Bang

Ms. Thuy said that more than 3 years ago, Lo Thi Hanh (resident of Na Nga village) came to her house to invite her only son, Sam Van Phi, to go to Taiwan to work. Hanh is a recruitment officer of SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company (part of Song Da Group), Que Phong district branch.

At that time, Hanh promised the family that if Phi went abroad to work, he would receive a monthly salary of 15 million VND, and if he worked overtime, he could receive more than 18 million VND. Meanwhile, the cost of the flight was 120 million VND. For this cost, the family only had to give Hanh their ID card, Hanh and the company would help borrow from the Que Phong District Social Policy Bank for a term of 3 years and an interest rate of only 0.32%. Trusting the female neighbor who was also a close relative, Ms. Thuy obediently followed all of Hanh's instructions.

In June 2014, Sam Van Phi and many other local workers were taken by Hanh to Vinh City for a health check and passport application. At the same time, Thuy's family received a notice to come to the Muong Noc Commune People's Committee headquarters to receive money. "I went to sign for 60 million VND, only held the money for a few seconds and then gave it back to the SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company staff who were waiting behind. Because I trusted Hanh, I didn't sign any receipt," Thuy said.

After paying the money, Phi was informed by the company to prepare his luggage and fly to Taiwan in July 2014. However, when the appointment was made but he still did not receive any news, Sam Van Phi called Hanh, who continued to schedule the flight for 2 months later. Since then, Ms. Thuy's family has contacted Hanh many times to ask for the money back, but this recruiter has delayed it time and time again. "In recent days, bank officials have repeatedly come to remind them. They said if they do not pay by June 19, they will repossess the house," Ms. Thuy said.

Ms. Nga and her husband in Na Phay village, Muong Noc commune (Que Phong) are worried when the debt of 120 million VND has come due to be paid. Photo: Pham Bang

In the same situation as Ms. Thuy, Ms. Lo Thi Nga (47 years old, Na Phay village, Muong Noc commune) and her husband have been "sitting on fire" in recent days because the debt for sending their children to work abroad is about to come due. Ms. Nga said that more than 3 years ago, Lo Thi Hanh came to persuade her and her husband to borrow money to send their 2 children to Taiwan to work.

“Hanh and my family are close relatives, children of my uncle and aunt. Seeing that Hanh promised to go there to work with a high salary, my husband and I agreed, gave Hanh our ID cards and followed her instructions,” said Ms. Nga. In early June 2014, Ms. Nga and her husband were notified to go to the commune headquarters to receive money from the Social Policy Bank. Her family decided to borrow 120 million VND to pay for their two children. When arriving at the commune headquarters, Ms. Nga said that people from SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company were there waiting to collect the money.

After paying 120 million VND to the company, Ms. Nga's two children eagerly awaited the day they could go abroad. However, the dream of escaping poverty was still just a promise from Hanh. Too impatient because of the broken promise over and over again, Ms. Nga's family repeatedly met Hanh to ask for the money back to pay the bank but was not satisfied. Meanwhile, due to the extremely poor life, the two children had to go to the South to work for hire, to make a living.

“For the first two years, the company paid the interest. But from January 2017 to May 2017, the family had to pay nearly 400,000 VND in interest each month. The family only relied on a few fields, and tried hard to pay for the first five months. For the past two months, the family still doesn’t know where to turn to pay the interest, not to mention the principal that is about to expire. If the company doesn’t refund the money, the bank will probably come and take the house,” Ms. Nga sobbed.

The government is worried.

The case of Ms. Thuy and Ms. Nga is not unique in Muong Noc commune. Mr. Quang Van Phuong - Chairman of Muong Noc commune People's Committee said that from 2014 to 2016, there were 24 households in the commune who borrowed preferential loans from the Social Policy Bank of Que Phong district to go to Taiwan to work through SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company. Of these, 17 households with 27 workers could not go to work and currently there are 17 cases that have not been reimbursed by the company.

In particular, the family of Mr. Quang Van Trung (Pa Nat village) although not allowed to go to work abroad, for many years still had to pay more than 5.6 million VND in interest to the bank. Most of these people borrowed in 2014 and now it is time to pay the principal to the bank.

“Most of the households are relatives of Hanh. After receiving the money from the bank, they immediately handed it over to the company. The total amount of money that the company received from the Muong Noc people but could not send them abroad and has not yet paid to the people is 960 million VND, not including interest,” said Mr. Phuong.

The house of Ms. Le Thi Thuy's family in Na Nga village, Muong Noc commune. Photo: Tien Hung

When mentioning this issue, Mr. Vi Thai Diep - Chairman of Quang Phong Commune People's Committee could not hide his anxiety. In 2014, 12 workers in the commune applied for a loan of 538 million VND from the district's Social Policy Bank with the hope of going to work abroad in Taiwan and Malaysia. However, only 9 workers were able to go, while the other 3 workers failed to go abroad.

However, for nearly 3 years now, SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company has not returned all the money to these 3 workers. “These households are all poor, their lives are very difficult, so their wish is to go abroad to work to change their lives soon, to escape the poverty. However, for many different reasons, they cannot go. The company should have paid the people to pay the bank, but they kept silent. Doing so makes the people's lives even more miserable,” Mr. Diep shared.

According to the reporter's investigation, not only in Muong Noc and Quang Phong communes, in the period of 2014 - 2016, more than 100 workers in 12 communes in Que Phong district paid SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company nearly 6 billion VND but then could not go abroad to work as per the signed contract. Nearly 5.7 billion VND of this amount was borrowed by people from the Social Policy Bank of Que Phong district according to Decision 71/2009 of the Prime Minister on approving the Project to support poor districts to promote exports to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction in the period 2009-2020. The rest was borrowed by workers from outside. Communes with many workers in debt include Muong Noc, Dong Van, Thong Thu,... Most of the workers are ethnic minorities, have difficult family circumstances, many households have been poor for many years.

The incident came to light when a number of households in Dong Van commune were so upset that they sent a petition to the authorities. Recently, the Chairman of Que Phong District People's Committee decided to establish an inspection team to inspect the labor export at SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company, Que Phong District branch, from 2011 to 2016.

Inspections showed that SIMCO Song Da Joint Stock Company has been licensed to recruit workers in Que Phong district for 10 years. However, when the inspection team of Que Phong district People's Committee came to work, the company's branch in Kim Son town had stopped operating and the headquarters no longer had employees.

Tien Hung - Pham Bang