3 recruiters suspended over Libya OFW mess

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has suspended the licenses of several recruitment firms found guilty of substituting contracts of overseas Filipino workers in Libya. A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs said the POEA found strong evidence that Aqua-Gem International Manpower Corporation and Sharikat Al-Saedi International Manpower, Inc. committed misrepresentation and contract substitution. Another recruitment firm, Cifex World Libyan Branch, defaulted on its contractual obligations and committed grave misconduct. Only six of the 271 Filipinos employed by Cifex were sent back to the Philippines on April 2, according to the DFA statement. “The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, through the Office of the Labor Attaché, is closely coordinating with these companies to ensure the protection of the Filipino workers’ rights and welfare," the DFA added. Earlier, the POEA suspended the license of CYM International Services and Placement Agency, Inc. after allegedly duping 137 Filipino for nonexistent jobs as bus drivers in Dubai, one of the Middle East’s richest emirates. The POEA also clarified that Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa and Welfare Officer Robert Baccig “did not drag their feet on the alleged abuses." “It was the interventions and the reports of Labor Attaché Mustafa, dated 12 and 22 February, that largely served as the basis for the suspension imposed by the POEA on the three companies," it said. Based on POEA statistics, there are 5,941 Filipinos working in Libya as of 2007. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV