DAMMAM, 14 October 2006 — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Manila has rejected a petition by leaders of two major community groups to relieve Labor Attaché Delmer Cruz as head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the Eastern Region.
Labor Secretary Arturo D. Brion, in a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila, said his department found “no reason to recall and/or replace Labor Attaché Cruz from his present post of assignment.”
Brion’s letter was dated Aug. 2, 2006. It was relayed to community leaders in the region only on Oct. 10 by Consul General Nestor N. Padalhin, the embassy’s current chargé d’affaires,
In their petition last April, the All Filipino Community and Sports Commission (Afcscom) and the OFW Congress in Eastern Province (OFWCEP) sought the relief of Cruz, whom they accused of failing to act urgently on numerous labor cases of OFWs pending in his office in Alkhobar.
The two so-called umbrella organizations also faulted Cruz for failing to show leadership, to maintain rapport with the community, to support community and sports activities, among others.
Brion’s letter said the petitioners, in failing to present evidence or witnesses to substantiate or corroborate their allegations, “failed to prove the guilt of Labor Attaché Cruz on the charges being complained of.”
Brion also noted that other organizations in the region had denounced the petition and reaffirmed their full support for Cruz.
Cruz, in an interview after Padalhin’s release of Brion’s decision, called on all parties to move on.
He said he already did that and that he did not allow his duty as head of POLO-OWWA in the Eastern Region Operations to get disrupted. He was also appointed as concurrent labor attaché to the Riyadh office early last month.
“That petition was submitted to a proper forum, and that forum had already spoken. So, let’s just continue moving on and work together,” he told Arab News.
Cruz also expressed his gratitude to “all the people who stood for the truth.”
