JEDDAH/DUBAI, 15 March 2007 — The proposed “ladderized salary scheme” for Filipino household service workers (HSWs) in lieu of a $400 across-the-board minimum monthly salary will not solve the basic problems facing the Philippine labor export industry, an active leader of a movement helping distressed OFWs in the Middle East has warned.
Ronnie Abeto of the Pusong Mamon Task Force (PMTF) urged the Philippine government to go ahead with its package of reforms on HSW deployment and not compromise with those protesting against it.
“The government, the POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) in particular, must be firm in its stand to implement the earlier guidelines and policies on HSW deployment and must not be persuaded or influenced by the sectors who are after their personal gains only and in cahoots with overseas groups,” Abeto said in an e-mail.
Earlier, the Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI) wrote President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to propose a graduated salary scheme in place of an across-the-board entry level monthly minimum of $400, which the POEA Governing Board had earlier approved.
The PASEI proposal, which the Saudi-Philippine Business Council found to be “reasonable,” was a compromise arrangement which provides the following scheme:
• Minimum of $200 for ordinary, all-around first-timer HSWs;
• $300 for HSWs cum sewer/dressmaker/cook/babysitter;
• $400 for HSW cum tutor/governess/caretaker.
According to the Saudi group and PASEI, the $400 minimum salary that the POEA has imposed was “exaggerated” and may lead employers not to pay the full amount, which would cause misunderstandings between the employer and employee.
It could also increase the problem of contract substitution, in which the employer forces an employee to sign a contract different from what had been approved by the POEA, and the so-called “reprocessing” of job orders.
Worse, employers may stop hiring HSWs from the Philippines, or resort to hiring through illegal means, thus exacerbating the country’s already gargantuan problem of unemployment and illegal recruitment.
Abeto countered that contract substitution and reprocessing of job orders could be stopped if competent and dedicated personnel are assigned to the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) to do their job of verifying the background of companies or employers applying for visas to hire Filipino workers before approving such application.
Abeto said the claim that employers could resort to bringing Filipino workers abroad on visit visas and then employing them without proper documentation was not applicable to the Kingdom.
PASEI President Victor Fernandez, who is currently in Jeddah, clarified that the use of tourist visas was not necessarily applicable to the Kingdom but is being done in other countries, including some in the Middle East, such as Kuwait, United Arab Emirates or Lebanon and Jordan.
Fernandez said the point Abeto raised on the issue of contract substitution and reprocessing was valid. The question, he said, was whether the rules were being enforced.
Necessary
Other community leaders or OFWs in the Kingdom and elsewhere believe the new POEA rules, which also places a minimum age of 23 for HSWs, was necessary especially in places where the cases of abused or runaway maids are high.
The minimum age, which was initially increased to 25 from 21 before it was brought down to 23 due to protests by some recruitment agencies and workers in Manila, is thought to ensure that Filipino domestic workers are emotionally mature when they go abroad.
The increase in age requirement, however, is being questioned by various quarters.
According to the group Filcomsin (Filipino Community in Singapore), such requirement seems to be “arbitrary and discriminatory” considering that Philippine laws define that a “minor” or “underage” is anyone below 18 years of age.
“By imposing this, the government hides the fact that poverty and unemployment and not the perceived ‘immaturity’ based on biological age drive migrant workers to go abroad and work under inhumane conditions. They also hide the fact that many of the serious forms of abuses against domestic workers, particularly women, such as trafficking of persons by illegal recruiters, sexual harassment, rape and other forms of sexual violence, are taking place regardless of age,” said the group in a statement.
Filcomsin further said that if the Philippine government wants to address the problem caused by the export of HSWs, it should “take serious and decisive steps to address the lack of economic opportunities and poverty as major factors that drive our people, particularly women, to take enormous risks and sacrifices to migrate as domestic workers.”
Community Support
In the United Arab Emirates, at least 30 organizations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates have expressed their support behind the new labor policy, saying the increasing number of distressed HSWs is already alarming.
“We cannot just ignore our kababayans being abused left and right. Just visit the POLO-OWWA office and you will find runwaway maids, some as young as 18 years old. And they are the lucky ones because they were able to run away. There are still plenty out there being maltreated or sexually abused,” said one community leader, who declined to be named for security reasons.
POLO officials said there are currently more than 70 runaways Filipinos being housed by the Philippine government entities in Dubai. The figure is almost the same or higher in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Community groups in the Emirates have been active in helping distressed workers. Lately, the Philippine Guardian Brotherhood, Inc. provided one-way air tickets for two of the victims.
Virginia Calvez, the Philippine labor attaché in Dubai, has said the support of Filipino community organizations made the task of disseminating and enforcing the news rules easier.
“We are trying to campaign for more support because we know that the support of the community, employers and foreign placement agencies are indispensable to the successful implementation of the new measure,” Calvez said during a recent meeting of the community at the Philippine Consulate in Dubai.
She also explained that the new rules require that HSWs undergo proper training and that their skills are assessed before they are allowed to work abroad. This is thought to reduce the incidence of misunderstandings between the worker and employer, which often arises when the worker is ill-trained.
Calvez further said that the new rules provide for a culture and language orientation from OWWA and that no placement fee should be collected from HSWs.
