Ask friends before leaving, Singapore-bound OFWs urged

MANILA, Philippines – Before taking a flight to Singapore, Filipinos seeking work for the first time in the Lion City should network with their friends there to double-check their contracts. Philippine Labor Attaché to Singapore Annabella Oliveros gave the advice as she said many workers are made to leave the country as tourists and without the proper job training. "They should touch base with their friends in Singapore or some government offices to check the details of their contract and find out whether their agencies are legitimate ones," she said in an article on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Web site (www.cbcpnews.com). Oliveros said prospective OFWs should start asking questions if they had been told they would not be required to pay placement fees. In many cases, she said victims of illegal recruitment would leave the Philippines as tourists without appropriate training for the jobs they were hoping to get. "As soon as they arrive in Singapore, they are surprised with the kind of workload they get, and whatever documents they sign here are considered legal even if it says there will be no days-off and salaries would only be a hundred Singapore dollars a month [roughly P1,500] because free market forces are always considered," she said. She added there were instances when domestic workers had to put up with salary deductions to pay their placement fees for six to seven months. Until then, they would only receive 10 to 20 Singapore dollars a month until everything has been settled with the agency. “When these domestic helpers begin to receive text messages, letters, and overseas calls from relatives back home and they at last realize their predicament, they opt to run away from their employers and seek shelter at the Philippine embassy," she added. Also, she said that in Singapore an employer could just get a new domestic helper without sending her present helper home. She cautioned Filipinas hoping to work as domestic helpers not to leave the Philippines as tourists. They should see to it they deal with licensed recruitment agencies so their placement fees would be in accordance with the accepted norms of a month's salary. "They should not accept salaries lower than the government-prescribed Singapore $600 a month because there are Filipinas who left the Philippines as tourists who now receive a measly 350 Singapore dollars a month," Oliveros added. - GMANews.TV