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OFWs in distress: Help is just a text away
Deziray Aguilera learned in September that her husband, Aquiles, was arrested and detained in Japan for overstaying. After a month, she still did not know her husband’s whereabouts. She did not know what to do, where to go for help or who to talk to until her concerns reached the Center for Migrants Advocacy’s SOS-OFW helpline. Aquiles worked as a welder in a company that refused to provide him work visa. He had overstayed in Japan for seven years until immigration officers caught up on him. After giving the latest information she knew on her husband’s whereabouts, CMA managed to trace Aquiles through its network in Japan, Philippine embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs. Rodolfo Limjap Dajoya and Abril Delmoro Ricablanca were stranded in the port city of Umm Qasr since July 2007, and abandoned by their Iranian employer for two months without money and food supplies. Through the CMA SOS helpline, kind-hearted souls provided for their transportation money and concerned diplomatic and labor officials quickly moved to have them repatriated to Manila. Four months since Evelyn Calderon, 33, left for work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, she has not contacted her husband, Rey, a computer technician/messenger in a Taguig office. Repeated visits and calls to the recruitment agency that sent her yielded no positive result. But though CMA’s SOS network, Evelyn’s whereabouts was traced and Rey finally heard his wife’s voice again, giving him and their three young children an assurance that she is still alive and doing all right. Maritess Cadag sent this brief SOS call in September. “Humihingi po ako ng tulong. Nanganganib po ang buhay ko dito sa New Delhi, India. Inaabuso po ako. May mga anak po ako sa Laguna." She gave her contact number. Through CMA’s quick reaction team, Maritess was back in Manila after two weeks. The case of Tess Santos in Jeddah is currently keeping the SOS Saudi group occupied. After dragging her rapist to jail, Tess filed a suit in court through the Philippine consulate’s Assistance to Nationals Section (ANS), but she found out later she did not have a formal claims on her private rights, aside from the criminal aspect of the case. Tess blames it to negligence by some ANS officials who kept telling her that the complaint had been filed and was awaiting hearing. After waiting for months, she went on her own to court to inquire. She found out that the case was not filed at all. She reported to the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), but no one there believed her. She said OUMWA officials insisted that the ANS did everything for her complaints in a report it had submitted. With the help of friends and the SOS Saudi team, Tess was able to pursue the case, now waiting for second hearing. Carina Gonzales, a domestic helper in the United Arab Emirates, never missed a day without a slap in the face, or a kick in the butt from her employer. For 10 months she was not paid her salary. She wanted to run away, but her employer confiscated her passport upon her arrival. She said she was not allowed to use the phone; she was locked in the house and couldn’t contact anybody for help. Policy review Joseph Henry Espiritu, a Jeddah-based OFW who spends time and personal resources helping distressed Pinoys in Saudi Arabia, said cases of abuse on OFWs keep piling up despite intensified preventive and reactive measures enforced not just by government agencies but also by other sectors, including non-governmental organizations. Espiritu, who has taken the lead in Saudi Arabia to respond to SOS signals, has put up the Patnubay.com website to complement CMA’s efforts in addressing distress calls. Espiritu has drawn up recommendations to avoid problems besetting Filipino workers overseas and to strengthen institutions to protect and enhance OFW rights. He summarized situations that lead to abuses on hapless OFWs whose only intention is to provide for the daily needs of their family back home and assure a good future for their children. Citing SOS helpline records, Espiritu said cases of distressed OFWs in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia in particular, are caused or aggravated by either or all of the following factors: irresponsible employers, irresponsible recruitment agencies, ignorance or stupidity on the part of the worker, and irresponsible Philippine government officials. The existence of abusive employers is a “given," he said, but this is made possible with the collusion of irresponsible recruitment agencies who engage in contract switching, use of visit visas, hiring of overqualified individuals to work as domestic helpers, and other forms of trickeries to circumvent the laws of both the Philippines and the host governments. The modus is: the recruiter gives the employment contract to a hired recruit at the airport in a sealed envelope shortly before departure. The recruiter would instruct the worker not to open the envelope, which will be given right away to the employer upon arrival in the country of destination. If the worker decides to withdraw because he knew that the contract was switched, the recruiter would threaten to sue the worker. One important aspect of the deployment process that needs to be reviewed and strengthened is the pre-departure orientation seminar which should adequately prepare the overseas job applicant for an entirely new environment abroad. PDOS is a requirement before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration approves the job applicant’s overseas employment certificate. However, some recruiters facilitate the “deployment" of job applicants using fake contracts, even skipping the required pre-departure orientation seminar. Sadly, even many of those who have gone through the seminar remained ignorant of the laws, culture and traditions of the host country. Espiritu said this reality makes more urgent the need to overhaul the PDOS to make it effective. He also suggested a reorientation program for Philippine officials tasked to take care of the welfare of Filipinos overseas. “There were plenty of cases in which distressed OFWs who sought help from foreign mission officials were treated badly. Some even lost their cases either due to gross negligence or outright betrayal by officials concerned," Espiritu said. One of the ills that exist in Philippine missions is the "padrino" system, he noted. "If you know somebody in the consulate or the embassy you will be entertained," he said in his Web log posted in Patnubay.com. "There are officials whose priorities are to hold parties or socials instead of focusing on helping the distressed OFWs," he observed. “Many of domestic helpers who feel abused choose to run away because they have no other option, which would have been a different case had they been able to talk with embassy, consulate or Philippine foreign labor officials," he noted. "A solution to this problem is to assign officials with good track record to key posts such as Saudi Arabia," Espiritu said. OFWs in trouble Countless sad stories of distressed OFWs need immediate attention and redress, especially the ones that endanger the lives and wellbeing of migrant workers. In an effort to help compatriots in trouble, a group of OFWs in Saudi Arabia set up a fast, inexpensive and easy way of reporting that rides on the mobile phone technology. Out of the desire to help distressed OFWs, the SOS SMS was born in February 2006. It is a helpline that uses the short messaging system (SMS) in reporting cases of abused OFWs wherever they maybe. Aside from being a reporting tool, the system also serves various purposes beyond what its initiators envisioned. It serves as a fast communication link, a data bank, a research tool and a device to get quick responses from concerned government agencies in addressing problems of distressed OFWs. The helpline is a 24/7 text-based reporting mechanism, which the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), a group advocating migrant workers rights and welfare, is implementing in cooperation with the various partner non-government organizations (NGOs) worldwide. The Manila-based CMA has also established partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-OUMWA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for quick responses on urgent cases. As a research tool, SOS SMS establishes a database that permits case documentation, indexation, classification and analysis of various problems migrant workers and related issues, said Ellene Sana, CMA executive director. The helpline boosts the group’s advocacy work as the data and analysis generated from the system would serve as clues in identifying thrusts and loopholes in migration policies and practices. Sana said that the OFW helpline is still a work in progress. Additional system features and refinements to make it more secure, efficient, responsive and effective are being worked out primarily by the project team. SOS mechanics Any OFW in distress could text:
