MANILA, 3 February 2008 — Labor Secretary Arturo Brion yesterday appealed for calm among Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) outraged over a new direct hiring policy, explaining that the tighter rules are for their own protection.
Brion chided some critics of the new policy for causing “confusion” by giving “wrong information” on the new policy that, among other things, require would-be employers to put $8,000 in bonds for each worker hired directly.
In memorandum circular issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) last month, foreign employers who want to hire Filipinos directly are required to have their applications screened by Philippine embassies or labor attachés and to put up performance bonds of $3,000 and repatriation bonds of $5,000 for each worker they hire.
The POEA claims the bonds would guarantee payment of the workers salaries and repatriation in case of death, respectively.
OFW groups and individuals in the Middle East, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Italy have expressed fears that stringent rule would price Filipino professionals out of the global market.
Migrante-Middle East and the United Filipinos in Hong Kong both said the new requirement has led to a virtual ban on direct hiring, endangering the jobs of thousands of OFWs around the world.
“We believe the circular translates to the deregulation of the Philippine labor export industry and relieves the government of its responsibility for protection and services to their nationals abroad,” Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona said in a statement.
In the past days, OFWs, mostly professionals, have been sending embassies and the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices as well as media offices in the Philippines and abroad, angry complaints via e-mail about the new direct hiring rule.
Monterona urged Philippine embassies in the Middle East to follow what the Philippine Embassy in Singapore did when it suspended last Jan. 30 the implementation of the circular “until further notice.”
In response to the flak, Labor Secretary Brion yesterday urged OFWs to try to look into the actual reasons behind the strict implementing guidelines.
He explained in a press statement that the $5,000 repatriation bond and performance bond are meant to ensure repatriation of an OFW should the need arises.
Brion also added the direct hiring guidelines require foreign employers to give the OFWs medical help equivalent to the monetary benefits the local citizen gets in the host country.
The Philippines has been deploying a lot of OFWs abroad through the private recruitment agencies. Direct-hires are only processed by the POEA. He said the new rule is not different from the requirement for accredited placement agencies to put an insurance bond on behalf of OFWs they deploy abroad.
This, according to Brion, obliges placement agencies to enforce the signed contract primarily focused on money claims of workers. It is the foreign employer who answers for the welfare and safety of its hired OFW, Brion emphasized.
Exemptions may be issued depending on the classification of work, the deployment area and the approval of the POLO.
A POLO official who requests for an exemption must justify its correctness and must prove to the Labor Department that he or she is able to provide protection to OFWs in the work station.
POEA records showed that there are 26,753 OFWs the foreign employers directly hired for the period 2006, with Italy as the top destination, followed by Canada and Spain.
The Middle East, on the other hand, is the only region that hired non-household service OFWs through direct hiring.
Direct hiring of workers, as specified in the Labor Code, is only allowed for diplomats, officials of international organizations and other special employers scrutinized and approved by the labor secretary. (With a report by the Inquirer News Service)
