Stop deploying domestic helpers to Saudi — House panel

Citing the “worst nightmare" that domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia face, the House Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs (COWA) has called for a temporary stop to the deployment of Filipino helpers in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is not fit to receive domestic workers, Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said, citing cases of abuse and unfair labor practices there. “Our kababayan (compatriots) leave the [Philippines] with the promise of a better life for themselves and their families; unfortunately they are confronted with their worst nightmare in Saudi Arabia," Bello, the committee chair, said in the panel report on their visit to the Middle East country. According to the COWA chair, Filipina domestic helpers in Saudi are harassed, raped, beaten, and subjected to other forms of sexual and physical violence by their employers, by Saudis and by other foreign nationals. It is also a “normal practice" for employers to withhold employees’ salaries and confiscate their identification papers and other important documents such as passports, the lawmaker said. Another labor practice in the kingdom Bello lamented is contract substitution, in which recruitment agencies in Saudi “sell" a domestic helper to another employer in case of labor dispute between the worker and the original employer. At the mercy of two employers Contract swapping renders Filipina workers literally at the mercy of two employers with the original employer holding her travel documents. The Filipina in such a situation usually ends up as an undocumented worker, according to COWA. “Already, these women find themselves trapped in the confines of a conservative society such as Saudi Arabia, with strict rules for decency and propriety, but they are virtually paralyzed by their employers and are trafficked by recruitment agencies," Bello said. He then cited that many pregnant Filipina workers don’t even have access to decent health and medical services that their children they bear are undocumented and thus could not leave the country. “It is really a situation of modern-day slavery; it is no surprise that our Embassies and their attached agencies in Saudi also have to deal with an overwhelming number of runaways and undocumented persons, and even then, their statistics seem to be inaccurate," Bello said. A country unfit to receive domestic helpers Bello wants the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to no longer certify Saudi Arabia as a country fit to receive domestic workers as required in the Amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. The House committee also wants the DFA, Department of Labor and Employment, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to:

1. Negotiate the terms of a bilateral labor agreement with the Saudi government primarily to ensure that the rights of all OFWs in the kingdom are protected;
2. Upgrade the Pre-departure Orientation Seminars for OFWs headed for Saudi so that the pros and cons of living there may be fully disclosed;
3. Discourage people from working as “washers" and “beauticians" or other domestic work and related occupations in the kingdom;
4. Prosecute recruitment agencies accused of deploying domestic workers to households and establishments that abuse workers, and those that practice contract substitution;
5. Ensure that the budget for Assistance to Nationals and the Legal Assistance Fund are increased and not reduced;
6. Increase efforts to secure the release of Filipinos on death row and others currently detained in Saudi jails on various charges;
7. Negotiate a bilateral agreement with the Saudi government addressing the plight of children born of Filipino or mixed parentage in Saudi Arabia and facilitate their repatriation to the Philippines; and
8. Increase the number of personnel in the embassy, consulate, and Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Saudi.

Protecting the rights and welfare of OFWs “Halos lahat ng nakausap naming mga kababayan sa Saudi, iisa ang mungkahi (Almost everyone whom we talked to has only one suggestion): until such time that the Saudi government accepts the responsibility of policing their nationals and protecting the rights and ensuring the welfare of household service workers, it is incumbent upon the government to suspend the deployment of Filipinas to Saudi Arabia," Bello said. “What we have before us is a cycle of abuse, and COWA is committed to work to end it," he added. Bello and lawmakers Maria Carmen Zamora-Apsay, Emmeline Aglipay, and Cresente Paez were in Saudi last month to check on the condition of Filipino workers there. In a separate interview, migrant advocacy group Migrante International said they fully agree with the committee report, but that the committee must be “careful" with its recommendations. “Maliwanag na totoo ang sinasabi ng ulat. Napakapangit ng katayuan ng ating mga kababayang manggagawa sa Saudi (It is clear what the report says is true. The situation of our Filipino workers in Saudi is very ugly)," said Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez. Decertifying Saudi as an OFW destination may have repercussions on Filipinos there, he warned. Aquino administration must show resolve “Concerned kami. Hindi natin alam kung ano ang magiging impact nito sa ating mga manggagawa. Baka tanggalin sila, kahit pa ‘yung mga may maayos na employer naman (We are concerned. We do not how this will impact on our workers. They might be fired, even those with better employers)," Martinez explained. The Aquino administration must show the resolve to demand from the Saudis to ensure the rights and welfare of Filipino workers in their country are protected, according to the Migrante official. “Hindi dapat priority ng gobyerno ang labor export. Dapat unahin pa rin ang pagbibgay ng trabaho at disenteng sweldo dito sa ating bansa (Labor export should not be government’s priority. It should prioritize creating jobs with decent wages here in our country)," he added. The Aquino administration’s decision to reduce budget allocation for assistance to OFWs in distress will also result in more Filipinos being sent to jail or stranded in Saudi without funds for hiring lawyers or for repatriation, he said. Saudi Arabia remains the top employer of OFWs in the past seven years, with some 5.7 million Filipinos deployed in the oil-rich country from 2003 to 2009, POEA records show. Most of the workers are nurses, domestic helpers, caregivers, and those in the information technology sector. — VS, GMA News