MANILA, 15 June 2004 — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will be looking into who is at fault in the deaths of the three domestic helpers who died in Lebanon in the past few months.
“I have already instructed the POEA to investigate the local recruitment agencies that deployed not only Catherine Bautista but also the two others who have died in Lebanon with the aim of determining the extent of culpability and responsibility of the local recruitment agencies that deployed them in that country where they met their tragic fates,” Acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson said.
Bautista, Louella Montegro and Luz Pacuran died in similar circumstances over the past three months. Their relatives alleged that Philippine Embassy personnel had been negligent when the three approached the embassy for help because of their abusive employers.
Meanwhile, Imson said he would wait for the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the embassy officials before acting on the matter.
“The Department of Labor and Employment has not been furnished an official report of the investigating team. We will look at the report as soon as we have it, and then act,” Imson said.
In light of this, Imson ordered the Acting POEA head Carmelita Dimzon to put together a team to review the ten-year old rules governing the deployment of domestic workers to Lebanon and elsewhere.
Imson said, “Initially, there is a move to institute tighter procedures for recruiting domestic helpers.”
He said industry practices with regards to recruitment of domestic helpers, the monitoring their conditions at their jobsites, legal assistance for domestic helpers abroad and repatriation if necessary, would all be studied. The review, Imson said, will be “timely in light of the changing labor conditions worldwide.”
