Labor secretary leaves
OFWs hanging in the wind



THE LATEST outrage that the Philippine Department of Labor of Employment hoped would go unnoticed is the Unified Contract that the Saudi Arabian National Recruitment Commission (Sanarcom) wants to impose on all Filipinos hired to work in the Kingdom.

Under a new agreement forged between the Sanarcom and some Philippine labor deployment agencies, the Unified Contract was supposed to be implemented starting from March 4, 2003. But outrage from various OFW advocacy groups, Filipino politicians, and even Victor Fernandez Jr., the president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI), has managed to suspend the implementation of the Unified Contract for the time being.

Several parts of the Unified Contract were found to be disadvantageous to Filipino workers and Philippine employment agencies, but the two major shortcomings of the new agreement are the fact that it allows for contract substitution and explicitly bans Filipino workers from running away from their employers

Philippine law stipulates that Filipinos deployed abroad first sign their work contracts in Manila, which must then be approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). Under the Unified Contract terms, Saudi employers would be allowed to switch contracts once their Filipino employees arrive in the Kingdom. Under Philippine law this is illegal and is punishable with lengthy jail terms.

Section 9 of the Unified Contract says: The work contract in force is the one presented by the second party (approved in the Kingdom) in his capacity as the employer's representative.

Although contract substitution is unfortunately already a common practice in the Kingdom, where foreign workers are sometimes forced to sign new contracts with lower salaries when they arrive here or face not being paid, the Unified Contract would legalize a practice that Saudi Arabia should not approve of.

Section 1C of the Unified Contract stipulates: "The deployed worker shall not reject work or run away with no justifiable reason." To me that leaves the whole issue open to interpretation, putting the onus on the abused worker to prove that their running away is justifiable.

OFW groups are furious with Secretary of Labor Patricia Santo Tomas, as she has refused to become involved in the whole issue. In a recent emailed reply to the e-Lagda group in Riyadh, Santo Tomas claimed that the Unified Contract was a private business agreement and that the Philippine government did not wish to get involved in it.

The fact of the matter is that the Sanarcom is claiming that the Saudi government approved its Unified Contract. Whether or not this is true, the Philippine government still has the responsibility of making sure that Filipinos deployed to work abroad are not subject to disadvantageous conditions.

Already the House of Representatives has indicated it will block the implementation of the Unified Contract and could ban the deployment of Filipino domestic helpers to Saudi Arabia, who are the most vulnerable to abuse.

The deafening silence from the labor department and the POEA should be fully probed by the House, and Secretary Santo Tomas and POEA administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz should be made accountable for sitting back and doing nothing to stop this unfair Unified Contract from being launched.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would do well to immediately announce the annulment of the Unified Contract agreement, and instead negotiate government to government with the Kingdom on a new form of employment contract that satisfies both sides equally.

The welfare of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos sent abroad every year to work for hard-earned dollars is too important to leave to the greedy interests of employment agencies both at home and abroad. The Philippine government must regulate this highly lucrative activity. The safety, welfare and lives of millions of Filipinos working abroad depend on this.

Filipino workers are not mere commodities being auctioned off to the highest bidder abroad. They are not slaves or indentured servants. They are proud human beings, whose interests and safety should be of paramount interest of the Philippine government.

It is sad that some Philippine employment agencies have apparently agreed to the disadvantageous Unified Contract. Obviously, there are many people who are ready to sell out the interests of Filipino workers in return of a fast buck. This is where the Philippine government should immediately step in. It is of course scandalous and ridiculous that OFW groups had to make a fuss before any action was taken. If the labor department and the POEA were doing their jobs right, they would have nipped the Unified Contract in the bud before it ever left the negotiating table.

Sadly, they were not!

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