The Middle East-based Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) rights’ group, Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS), a Migrante affiliate in Riyadh, condemned on Saturday the Philippine government for pursuing a new recruitment scheme for Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia through the institutionalization of Saudi-based mega recruitment firms into its existing bilateral labor agreement.

“These mega-recruitment firms, which are being pushed for by Rosalinda Baldoz, secretary of the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment, is designed to further intensify the recruitment and deployment of OFWs and aspiring job-seekers from among the millions of unemployed Filipinos,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East coordinator.

“Yet protection mechanisms for OFW workers’ rights remain diluted in the absence of defined social legislations taken by the host government to ensure that their rights are recognized, respected and honored.”

“The decision by the host government to stop issuing work visas to Philippine-hired household service workers (HSWs) in 2011 had created a row between the two governments,” he said.

“The Philippines’ Labor Department had imposed several requirements, such as a sketch of employers’ houses in Saudi Arabia, a minimum wage of $400 and the provision of ATM cards to domestic workers, among other stipulations,” he said. “This came in response to demands made by OFW groups to provide concrete protection for OFWs. These groups were spearheaded by KGS.”

The Saudi Labor Ministry temporarily stopped issuing work visas for one year at the time following objections on the strenuous requirements issued by the Philippines government.

The mega recruitment scheme was then created in 2012 following rounds of negotiations between the two labor departments.

“The mega recruitment scheme was signed during Baldoz’s visit to Riyadh in Febrauray,” Monterona said. “These companies are highly capitalized recruitment ventures and will allegedly ensure that recruiters in the Kingdom have the right resources to provide accommodation, protection and repatriation costs,” said Hans Cacdac, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

“Clearly, the agreement between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the POEA is solely focusing on intensifying the exportation of Filipino labor amid worsening unemployment woes in the country,” said Monterona. “Sad to say, this comes at the expense of OFWs well-being, rights and welfare.”

“We have serious doubts about some of the provisions stated in the scheme, such as the end of service or gratuity clauses,” he said. “The latter is not even recognized by the Saudi labor law.”

“These firms will now be solely responsible for the employment of OFWs, diminishing the role of government officials in solving labor cases,” he said.

“The government failed to generate local jobs with decent wages and benefits for Filipino workers,” he said. “This is why it is desperate in pushing for the implementation of the mega recruitment scheme, which had been recently rejected by the Shoura Council and the Saudi Council of Ministers.”

“The current government relies heavily on foreign remittances instead of developing the local economy by implementing agrarian programs and national industrialization schemes,” he said.