RIYADH, 29 October 2004 — Filipino-Muslim community leaders yesterday warned that Manila’s plan to replace locally hired staff of the Philippine mission in the Kingdom would be disastrous because most of those in the chopping block are Arabic speakers.
At least 40 of the local-hires are to be replaced in January under Administrative Order (AO) 244 issued recently by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas in Manila, supposedly to give way to regular personnel from the main office and improve the services being rendered by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).
Most of the local-hires are translators and interpreters at the four labor offices attached with the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate in Jeddah.
And that’s where the trouble lies, the community leaders said, because most of the local-hires know their way around, having studied in universities in Saudi Arabia or other Middle Eastern countries.
“This is not only a ridiculous act but an injustice against our brothers,” said Albani Maungco, chairman emeritus of the United Bangsaranao Council (UBC).
It is unjust, he said, that the local-hires are being blamed for the many unresolved cases of OFWs.
“There are some people who try to discredit our performance in the POLO just because of unsettled cases which are considered grave offenses under Saudi Law, and which the Labor offices have nothing to do with,” he said.
“I challenge anyone, even the top attorneys in the Philippines to resolve one case as quicker as we can do,” said Maungco.
He said the local-hires can resolve cases “with few words without bringing it to the Saudi labor court” because they speak Arabic. “I, myself, handle numbers of cases and manage to resolve them within a certain timetable target,” he added.
Ali Ditucalan, an engineer and currently the titular “sheikh” of the Jeddah-based UBC, said it is unreasonable to expect the local-hires to solve all OFW cases right away because not all cases are simple.
For instance, he said, drug trafficking or drinking or the manufacture and sale of alcohol are major offenses in Saudi Arabia and not easy to handle. “Most of these cases are beyond their (translators and interpreters’) capacity,” he said.
Saleh Abbas, a community leader based in Jeddah, blamed “self-interest individuals” who think the laws of the Philippines should be applied in Saudi Arabia.
He said those criticizing the performance of local-hires should take note that most of the causes of OFW cases could be traced to recruitment agencies in the Philippines and the ignorance of the recruited persons of the laws and traditions of the host country.
He said many OFWs, especially domestic helpers, are not taught or given orientation by the hiring agencies of the “do’s and don’ts” in the host country.
“They are oriented only on how to send money and how to run to the Philippine Embassy if they have a problem,” he added.
One interpreter said some of the problems of OFWs that he handled arose out of sheer stupidity. He cited the case of a maid who ran away from her employer because she was not allowed to use the phone to call her boyfriend.
A Filipino electrician reportedly got in trouble because he was recruited by one agency even though what the employer wanted was a plumber.
A driver complained that his employer required him to work long hours but it turned out that his rest time was longer than his actual working hours, according to the interpreter.