MANILA, 4 March 2003 — The House of Representatives is seeking a moratorium in the implementation of a unified contract scheme for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) proposed by the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM) until further discussions can be made by the parties concerned.
Isidro Aligada, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Center for OFWs, asked Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas to seek for a “moratorium on the implementation as it may be inimical to Filipino workers.”
In a letter, Aligada told Sto. Tomas said the proposed unified contract provides that the Saudi government will only process contracts and visas of migrant domestic workers endorsed by the (SANARCOM) and its local counterpart, the government’s Overseas Placement Association of the Philippines (OPAP).
“An immediate action to freeze implementation will be for the good of the service,” Aligada said. He told Arab News the contract should be properly studied first. “After all, SANARCOM has no right to dictate terms to the Philippine government,” Aligada said.
The center was created by House Speaker Jose De Venecia to help enact legislation to strengthen the rights of OFWs.
The scheme was supposed to be implemented starting today.
Earlier, the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI), the largest association of recruitment agencies in the country, has also opposed the new scheme.
PASEI claimed that the scheme would cause a massive drop in the deployment of Filipino domestic workers to Saudi Arabia since SANARCOM and OPAP would monopolize the hiring activities.
PASEI added that the policy would also cause rampant contract substitution that is a violation of the rights and welfare of Filipino domestic helpers.
“How can we agree with SANARCOM if their unified contract mandates that our workers cannot run away or escape from the harsh conditions our OFWs will be subjected to,” PASEI president Victor Fernandez said in a statement.
Labor Undersecretary Manuel Imson, however, said the new policy is a “business transaction” inked by the two recruitment agencies and not by the Saudi and Philippine governments.
“We do not want to interfere with their private transaction, but whatever arrangements they arrived at relative to hiring of Filipinos to Saudi Arabia, these should not violate the rights of our OFWs,” Imson added.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said the contract contained provisions detrimental to the welfare of OFWs.
In Senate Resolution 559, Biazon urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to make a thorough review of the contract which Filipino workers will be required to sign before gaining employment in the Kingdom.
Biazon said the unified contract to be enforced by the Saudi Royal Embassy in the Philippines, contained questionable provisions that sidestep OFW rights and privileges upon the commencement of their respective employment contracts in the Kingdom.
“The POEA Standard Employment Contract of the workers will not be honored by the SANARCOM brokers for our Filipino domestic and household workers anymore,” Biazon said. “Filipino domestic helpers can no longer refuse any type of work nor could they run away to escape from an unbearable situation or work condition which is a detrimental provision found in Sec 1 (C) of the unified contract.”
“There are allegations that the Unified Contract was perfected without the concurrence of the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia, the DFA, DOLE, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration,” Biazon said.
“There is a very urgent need for both the DFA and DOLE to conduct a meticulous and immediate examination of the Unified Contract and take remedial action, if necessary.”
