Musings of Don Kishote….

Countries in the Middle East with huge concentration of Filipino workers have become the Philippines’ “dumping grounds for inept and irresponsible” government officials, a militant migrants’ group leader based in Hong Kong said on Wednesday.

Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK), considered the Middle East as a “welfare disaster zone” for Filipino migrant workers who had been abused and whose rights have been violated.

She cited the alleged indifference of embassy and consulate officials on the cases of more than 100 run away Filipinos who have been stranded for months in Jeddah and about 50 workers of a company in Kuwait who have resorted to eating spoiled food and scrounging in trash bins for items they can sell to raise money for food.

“With irresponsible officials, a joke of a welfare program, and consulates and embassies that never understood genuine service, OFWs in the Middle East are in a calamity situation whenever they seek help from the Philippine government,” Balladares said.

She criticized the ‘legal deportation process’ that Consul General Ezzedin Tago in Jeddah pushed as a way of repatriating OFWs.

“Such scheme is but legal murder for OFWs who were forced to come back to abusive employers or were imprisoned. With the situation that these returned OFWs face – lack of food, inhuman accommodation, abusive working conditions – the Philippine government practically signed their death warrants with this sham process,” Balladares said.

The distressed workers in Kuwait, she said, were left by Philippine embassy officials to fend for themselves while their cases against their employers are pending.

“It is reprehensible for these things to happen in the region were services are sorely needed. While OFWs in other countries also suffer from the same fate, these concrete cases of neglect and irresponsibility in KSA and Kuwait should be immediately addressed,” Balladares said.

The government, she said, “must exert extra effort to provide sufficient services to migrant workers in the area.”

Data from the POEA show that the Middle East accounts for 67.5 percent of new hires and 52.8 percent of rehires deployed in 2006.
Balladares lamented that Philippine government officials “are more concerned with how they can improve income generation from OFWs while also evade responsibility for those with problems.”
“Despite their harsh conditions, our fellow OFWs are prepared to fight for their right. We, OFWs in other countries, stand in support of our fellow migrants in the Middle East to pressure the Philippine government to act and address their issues in particular and that of Filipino workers around the world in general,” Balladares vowed. - GMANews.TV

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Ambassador to Saudi tells OFWs not to help troubled Pinoys

By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: February 29, 2008

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Antonio Villamor has advised overseas Filipino workers to stop helping compatriots who are fleeing from their employers.

In a letter dated Feb. 23 and addressed to Filipino community organizations in Saudi Arabia, Villamor said the Philippine Embassy understood that Filipinos could not resist the call for help of a kababayan.

“However, as guest workers in the kingdom, we are not only expected but are also obliged to follow and respect the local laws and regulations being enforced by Saudi authorities,” said Villamor.

“It includes the responsibility of not giving refuge to a worker who absconded from his employer.”

Villamor said the offense was considered serious under Saudi Arabian laws and carries a penalty of imprisonment, lashes and excessive fines if one is found guilty.

A copy of Villamor’s letter was sent by e-mail to the Inquirer on Tuesday by the Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Association in Saudi Arabia.

The ambassador noted an increasing number of arrests of Filipinos who ran afoul with Saudi laws, “particularly those who are helping/and or harboring stranded and runaway female workers.”

He cited the recent case of one Alberto Guanzon, an employee of Saudi Public Transport Co. and president of “Kasangga ng OFW,” a Filipino community organization based in Al-Khobar.

Villamor said Guanzon was arrested by Saudi police on Feb. 13 with a Filipina runaway worker aboard his borrowed car.

Guanzon claimed that he was only acting as a Good Samaritan to the Filipina in distress and was about to turn her to police authorities when he was arrested.

He said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo), in cooperation with Guanzon’s employer, persuaded the Saudi authorities to release the kind Filipino worker.

The runaway has been placed in the custody of the Al-Khobar police and was later endorsed to the Saudi Social Welfare Agency in Dammam, Villamor said.

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Illegal deployment of OFWs in Middle East rising

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The government expressed alarm yesterday over the rising number of illegally deployed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Jordan and other Middle East countries.

Quoting Labor Attaché to Amman, Jordan Henry Parel, Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo Brion said about 180 of the 236 OFWs who have sought refuge at the Bahay Kalinga in Amman last month were undocumented.

Brion said most of the workers who ran away from their employers were household service workers (HSW).

Of the 225 household workers staying at Bahay Kalinga as of December, 170 were undocumented, he added.

Brion said the government has suspended the deployment of workers to Jordan because of the rising number of distressed Filipino workers in that country.

“The suspension means that no OFW is allowed to work in Jordan as an HSW,” he said.

Meanwhile, Brion warned Filipino workers against dealing with agencies offering assistance to those looking for jobs in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates without any employment contract.

“Undocumented workers are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation since there are no contracts to bind their employers with responsibilities and corresponding liabilities that usually go with legitimate employment contracts,” he said.

Overseas employment has prevented the country’s unemployment from soaring by at least 50 percent, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said yesterday.

TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said 1,073,402 Filipino workers were deployed abroad in 2007 and about the same number the previous year. – Mayen Jaymalin

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DoLE warns OFWs anew vs going abroad sans work visas

By Margaux Ortiz
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: February 25, 2008

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Monday warned prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from seeking job opportunities abroad without working visas to prevent possible abuse by their foreign employers.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion issued the warning following a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Amman, Jordan that a majority of distressed OFWs who temporarily took refuge at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) there had been illegally hired.

Citing the report from labor attaché to Amman Henry Parel, Brion said that about 180 of the 236 OFWs who sought refuge at the FWRC in January this year were undocumented.

Brion, who issued an order suspending the deployment of Filipinos to Jordan last month, added that the runaways were mostly household service workers (HSWs).

“The suspension should warn OFWs not to be enticed to work as HSWs in Jordan by unscrupulous individuals and agencies without the acquisition of proper documents such as job contracts and work visas,” Brion said.

Brion also warned Filipino workers from dealing with agencies offering assistance to those looking for jobs in the Middle East without the necessary employment contracts.

He said workers seeking employment with only tourist visas abroad are putting themselves at great risk, even in top destinations like Dubai.

“I appeal once again to workers to check first with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration the existence of job orders in Dubai and other places abroad for any offer they may get from agencies and not to leave the country without proper documents,” he said.

“Undocumented workers are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation since there are no contracts to bind their employers with responsibilities and corresponding liabilities that usually go with legitimate employment contracts,” Brion added.

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