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Pinoy Abroad

Syrian employers insist on payment before OFWs can fly


UPDATED 1:00 p.m. - Philippine officials in Syria helping repatriate OFWs who want to flee the unrest in that country are having to negotiate with employers who insist on compensation for incomplete contracts. Out of more than 500 OFWs who want to leave, 17 OFWs, reportedly all domestic helpers, have been cleared for return to the Philippines after negotiations with their employers there, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Monday.
Contracts are not ‘unchangeable’
“It is a fundamental principle of law, which is constantly being proclaimed by international courts, that contractual undertakings must be respected. The rule pacta sunt servanda is the basis of every contractual relationship," it is stated in the oft-cited transnational case of Sapphire v. National Iranian Oil Company. But pacta sunt servanda pertains only to the inviolability of contracts and does not at all hold that all contracts must remain unchangeable at all times. There are, of course, exceptions. The most cited exception in national and international law is the countervailing principle of rebus sic stantibus or ‘fundamental change of circumstances’ —also known as ‘commercial impracticability’ (USA), or ‘frustration of purpose’ (UK), or Wegfall der Geschäftsgrundlage (Germany), or imprévision (France). Philippine officials can cite the continuing unrest in Middle Eastern and North African countries —known as the “Arab Spring"— as a fundamental change amounting to rebus sic stantibus to free OFWs from their contractual bonds, or at least as a bargaining chip in their negotiations. —Marlon Anthony Tonson
Baldoz admitted that negotiations are going slowly. "Ang alam ko may 17 na natapos ang negotiation (From what I know, our officials have completed negotiations for 17 of our workers)," she said in an interview on dwIZ radio. She noted more than 500 Filipinos in Syria had expressed interest in availing of the Philippine government's call for voluntary repatriation. "Nine-negotiate at hinihingi ng bayad ang employer sa unexpired portion sa kontrata kung di pa tapos yan so medyo mabagal ang pag-negotiate (The employers want to be paid for the unexpired portion of the OFWs' contracts, so the negotiations are going slowly)," she said. The Philippine government had raised the alert level in Syria to "3," which entails voluntary repatriation. Meanwhile, Baldoz said the DOLE will take an active part in the task force that will leave for Syria on Tuesday. Last week, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the government will send to Syria a 10-member rapid response team that will help out in the repatriation. He said the team was deployed by the Overseas Preparedness Response Team headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. "Limang employees galing DOLE at may DFA, DILG at DND ang papunta para makatulong sa negotiation sa employer para sa kababayan nating gusto na umuwi (Five employees from the DOLE will join counterparts from the DFA and Interior and Defense Departments in negotiating with the employers for our workers in Syria)," Baldoz said. — RSJ/HS, GMA News
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