DAMMAM, 30 October 2006 - Leaders of the two major organizations in the Eastern Province who called for the ouster of Labor Attache Delmer Cruz have rejected the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Manila to keep Cruz in his current post.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion made a decision without even conducting an investigation or sending a team from Manila to look into the complaint, said the main petitioners, the All Filipino Community and Sports Commission (Afcscom) and the OFW Congress in the Eastern Province (OFWCEP).
"The decision is tantamount to railroading because the secretary of labor did not create any committee to investigate our petition," OFWCEP President Ernesto Mapanao said.
Said Roilo Alojado, Afcscom overall chairman: "The decision does not settle the matter as we are taking further action on this decision. And that will not stop us to continue to be vigilant, to continue to keep watch in behalf of the OFWs."
The groups filed a petition last April seeking the relief of Cruz as head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) in the Eastern Province for allegedly failing to act on numerous labor cases of OFWs pending in his office.
They also faulted Cruz for failing to show leadership, to maintain rapport with the community, to support community and sports activities, among others.
Brion said in his letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila that the petitioners "failed to present evidence or witnesses to substantiate or corroborate their allegations..."
Addressing directly his sentiment to Brion, OFWCEP adviser Joe Avance–a said: "You are not supposed to pass a verdict, Mr. Secretary, without coming here in the Eastern Province and investigate for yourself what has happened actually."
The group also faulted Consul General Nestor N. Padalhin, the charge d'affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, for showing the DOLE decision to various Filipino community groups.
Ben Cesora, Afcscom overall vice chairman, said that Brion's letter should have been sent first to the petitioners and not to the general public.
They also complained that while Brion's letter to the DFA was dated Aug. 2, it reached them only early this month.
In response, Padalhin said in a telephone interview that he only followed instructions from the head office in Manila to inform all Filipino community groups in the Eastern region about the DOLE decision.
Padalhin said the embassy received the communication only this month and passed it on immediately to the community leaders concerned.
He said the DFA apparently wanted other community leaders to be informed of the decision since they also were involved in the issue.
Several other community groups in the region, including professional organizations, signed a counter-petition expressing their support for Cruz and denying the charges raised by Afscom and OFWCEP.
Labor AttachŽ Cruz also told Arab News that the petitioners started this all, and that the petition was acted upon by the proper forum.
"I hope this has not gone personal. It is so easy to hurl an accusation and it is not easy to undo it," Cruz said.
"How can a public servant do his job if he is pre-occupied and hounded left and right by accusations which has already been resolved and these matters have been put to rest?" Cruz said.
"The labor secretary is an alter-ego of the president of the Philippines and he already had spoken on this issue. Why can't we move on and give the OFWs the favor of serving them rather than keeping this issues alive again," he said.
