By Xinhua,
Manila : The Philippine Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, has warned against illegal matchmaking agencies after learning that some Filipina women married South Korean men through illegal match-making agencies, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement posted on its website Sunday.
The DFA quoted Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Luis Cruz as saying in a report these agencies act as a front for mail-order brides amidst reports that the South Korean government is set to crack down on inter-racial matchmaking agencies that violate local laws and use deceptive advertising.
“The Philippine Embassy reminds the public of Philippine Republic Act 6955 or the Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law, which makes it illegal for a ‘person, natural or juridical, association, club or any other entity’ to ‘establish or carry on a business which has for its purpose the matching of Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals either on a mail-order basis or through personal introduction,'” Cruz was quoted as saying.
He also noted that the law makes it illegal for anyone “to advertise, publish, print or distribute or cause the advertisement, publication, printing or distribution of any brochure, flier, or any propaganda material calculated to promote the prohibited acts” earlier mentioned.
Further amendments include its applicability to mail-order bride schemes using “mails or websites in the Internet,” he added.
While matchmaking agencies are considered legal in South Korea, the South Korean law requires these agencies to be registered and to be aware of issues concerning inter-racial marriages and ethics, said the ambassador.
Cruz said some Filipinas enter South Korea through marriages arranged through these matchmakers. Many of them are lured by promises of work or a better life.
“As of Jan. 31, 2008, approximately 5,000 Filipinos married to South Koreans reside in the peninsula, some of whom met their respective spouses through matchmaking agencies,” Cruz said.