JEDDAH, 11 August 2007 — A Philippine government agency in the forefront of the campaign against illegal job recruitment turned out to have helped a Saudi company skirt the labor laws of both Saudi Arabia and the Philippines by hiring Filipino workers using visit visas in the past two years.
Documents obtained by Arab News showed that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) not only gave its go-signal to Sawary Marketing and Development Group’s hiring practice, but also has not done anything despite recommendations by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Jeddah to stop the scheme.
“Malaki ang kinalaman ng ilang opisyal ng POEA sa illegal recruitment scheme na ito. Dapat magkaroon ng high-level investigation sa Manila para maputukan ang sinumang sangkot (Certain POEA officials played a key role in this illegal recruitment scheme. I hope a high-level investigation will be conducted in Manila to expose those involved),” said one POLO official.
The official cited a letter dated Aug. 18, 2005, of Teresita T. Laurel, Director II of the POEA’s Landbased Employment Center, readily agreeing to an advisory by Sawary Marketing & Development Group to take 33 Filipino workers to Jeddah using visit visas ostensibly for training for future jobs.
“We interpose no objection to said visit cum training and it is understood that POEA processing is not necessary at this point,” said Laurel in the letter addressed to Sawary president Reda Basha.
Apart from Basha’s letter, the Multi Resources Development Corporation also wrote the POEA on Aug. 18, 2005, declaring Sawary’s intentions.
MRDC assistant manager Yolanda Reyes Tawasil wrote Director IV Stella Banawis of the POEA’s Pre-Employment Services division that Sawary was able to secure 33 visit visas for the supposed relatives of its workers purportedly to be trained in Jeddah for possible jobs in future.
The 33 arrived Jeddah in three batches on one-month visas in September 2005 and ended up being exploited and abused, according to the POLO in separate reports to the POEA, one of which was made as early as May 21, 2006.
The issue came to a head this week when seven of the subsequent victims of this illegal recruitment scheme trooped to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah to file a formal complaint against Sawary and sought help from media.
The seven said they wanted to be repatriated because the employer not only failed in its promise to secure work visas and iqamas (national IDs) for them but also underpaid and abused them.
The complaint prompted Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot to warn Filipino jobseekers against accepting job offers for Saudi Arabia using visit visas.
Lomondot warned that visit visas in Saudi Arabia are not convertible to work visas, contrary to what Sawary’s recruitment agents and their ilk have been telling those they have hired.
He also warned that those who accept job offers using visit visas are effectively placing themselves under the mercy of those who hired them, or could end up in jail if they overstay their visit visas.
“They are vulnerable to exploitation if they have no work permit,” Lomondot said in an interview with reporters.
Consulate staff investigating the complaint said the case of the seven complainants is not an isolated one.
“These victims belong to the second batch and there was a third group that Sawary had brought to the Kingdom last March,” said one of the investigators.
Broken Promises
In her letter to Banawis of POEA, MRDC’s Tawasil said Sawary promised to provide a free round-trip ticket valid for one year for each of the “trainees,” visa fee, free accommodation, monthly allowance equivalent to $250, free medical insurance, and free transportation.
It was not clear how the MRDC was related to Sawary. While saying the “trainees” have nothing to do with MRDC, she also mentioned that Sawary was “our employer.”
Tawasil further cited a faxed letter from Sawary stating that the trainees “will not pay any placement fee or service fee to anybody.”
Sawary and its agents gave the same promise to the other “trainees” but those from the second batch, who complained to the consulate, showed that they were made to pay a placement fee of P35,000 each in addition to P2,825 for medical examination and P2,500 for training.
For the P35,000 placement fee, the “trainees” were given an acknowledgment receipt hand-written on a blank piece of paper.
Responsible for the recruitment of the “trainees” was an agency with an unlikely name, the Alba International Placement Inc. for Bright Future, whose office address is 2386-B Leon Guinto St. in Malate, Manila.
It did not take long for the first batch of “trainees” to find out that their future was bleak when they started working in Jeddah.
POLO’s Lament
Less than three months since the arrival of the 33 “trainees” in Jeddah, the Philippine labor office started receiving complaints of abuses from the workers, apart from their being not provided work visas or iqamas.
On Dec. 19, 2005, Labor Attaché Bulyok Nilong, head of the Jeddah POLO, wrote Sawary’s Reda Basha to raise the concerns of the “trainees.”
“The understanding is that these workers will train under your company for possible future employment. They have been working for three months and their visas have already expired since two months ago,” Nilong wrote.
“These 33 workers are at risk of being arrested and detained by police authorities. We have also received reports that their monthly allowances of 930 Saudi riyals (or $248) have been subjected to numerous unreasonable deductions. Some of them only receive SR27, SR70 and SR400 monthly allowance,” he complained.
Nilong’s complaints on behalf of the workers apparently fell on deaf ears.
In another letter dated July 19, 2006 and addressed to Sawary store manager Samir Jalloul, Nilong raised the concerns of Filipino workers, which included filthy accommodations, workers being penalized with exorbitant deductions for false or minor infractions, non-payment by the company of their medical expenses, among other “maltreatments.”
Nilong also raised the concerns of the legally hired workers who were being made to pay for the renewal of their iqamas.
He noted that under Saudi law, “employers are responsible for the payment of iqamas, exit/re-entry visa fees of their employees.”
Nilong demanded that the company execute an undertaking to resolve the issues raised, and that the owner, Reda Basha, include a pledge “not to manhandle any Filipino workers again...”
“The company should never again resort to recruiting workers from the Philippines using visit visa, only working visa,” his letter added.
Ignored
The POLO’s intervention apparently did not have any effect on Sawary. Documents also show that Nilong reported what Sawary and Alba agency were doing to the POEA on May 21, 2006, but he was ignored.
In August 2006, or two months after Nilong’s report to the POEA, Alba sent nine more “trainees” to Jeddah from Manila. These belonged to the second batch, whose complaint is now being investigated by the consulate.
Seven months later, or in March 2007, 23 more “trainees” arrived in Jeddah, but they were sent home in May before their visit visas expired, reportedly because one of the “trainees” complained to a police general and the general scolded Sawary management.
Nilong’s letter reminded the POEA of its earlier warning.
“If you will recall, we also made a report to your office last 21 May 2006 on the same case. Due to the clear circumvention being done by the Alba agency and the Sawary Group, may we further request both the agency and the employment be placed under your “watch list.”
In a letter to the POEA a few weeks ago, Nilong asked for an investigation of Alba International.
Consulate and POLO personnel said the case warrants an investigation “probably by the Senate to avoid any whitewash.”
“POEA officials have been remiss on this so someone other than the POEA should investigate,” said one consulate staff, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak.
He said the POEA’s “sin of omission” has added to the burden of the Jeddah consulate and POLO, who are known to be highly undermanned despite the huge volume of cases of distressed OFWs they are handling.
