Embassy labor officer accused of sex-for-flight in Kuwait rehired

A GMA News Online exclusive
 
Accused of misconduct, including sexual harassment, three Philippine contractual labor officers based in Kuwait have had their contracts renewed by the government, keeping them in close contact with OFWs needing government services.

One of them has been accused of pressuring an OFW to accept a "sex-for-flight" deal, or offering to facilitate a return flight to the Philippines for a female OFW in exchange for sexual favors.

Their superiors, however, have stressed that the three, all Filipino citizens but long-term "local hires" in Kuwait, no longer have access to female OFWs.

The three men have been identified by the government's Kuwait Anti-Trafficking Task Force as Case Officers Joselito Atienza, Omar Khalil, and Saleh "Casley" Watamama. All of them are staff members under the Philippine Overseas Labor Office/Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO/OWWA) of the Department of Overseas Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Watamama has been accused of making a "sex-for-flight offer" to one of the complainants. In addition to asking her out on a date in exchange for a plane ticket back to the Philippines, one of the complainants alleged that Watamama placed her hands on her hips, pinched her hips, and tried to pull her closer to him.

He is also accused of taking a Filipino “ward” – an OFW who ran away from her employer – out of an embassy shelter and facilitating her illegal employment in a household in Kuwait, where she was made to sexually service a Filipino employer.

Atienza was accused of misconduct and failure to assist an abused OFW in Kuwait, while Khalil was charged with graft and misconduct because he tried to convince a victim to settle her case out of court as he allegedly pointed out to her, “no OFW wins a case in Kuwait.”



'Blatant disregard of OFW rights'

The “sex-for-flight” scheme first erupted in Philippine media as part of revelations by Rep. Walden Bello in June of 2013 that involved Philippine officials in other embassies in the Middle East.

Assistant Secretary Lila Ramos Shahani of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster, under the Office of the President, told GMA News Online that she had earlier informed her superiors there is ample evidence to suggest such activities had been taking place since the mid-1990s.

Despite her report, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has concluded that Watamama's actions merely constitute the light and bailable offense of “unjust vexation.”

“The blatant disregard of OFW rights by several national government agencies has become a source of increasing alarm and concern for this office,” added Shahani, who was the first government official to bring the issue of abuses in Kuwait to her superiors.

Easier to investigate them?

Watamama, Atienza, and Khalil were among the alleged abusers identified in an initial fact-finding report from the DOJ's Kuwait Anti-Trafficking Task Force, created in September last year.

Several other embassy-based personnel who have been accused were recalled to the home office to face charges, but the three men remained in Kuwait. They have even retained the same positions despite a January 17, 2014 memorandum from Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz ordering the non-renewal of all POLO-OWWA local hires in Kuwait.

In March, or two months after the order from Baldoz, labor attaché Cesar Chavez issued a memo retaining the three men. He told GMA News Online in a phone interview from Kuwait that doing so would make it easier to investigate them.

“It was the collective decision of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the DOLE to hold on to those implicated in the sex-for-flight controversy, because we are expecting the Department of Justice to conduct a preliminary investigation on the matter,” Chavez explained in a memo justifying the contract renewal.

In an interview, Chavez warned that the Philippine government would lose jurisdiction over the three staff members if their contracts were not extended. “Mawawalan na tayo ng authority over them and authority to require them to submit documents,” he said.

Chavez gave assurances, however, that the three local hires are no longer allowed to interact with female OFWs under the embassy's custody.

“Female officers take care of female wards and gender sensitive programs are now in place,” he said, citing examples of new measures put in place to protect OFWs in Kuwait.

He added that the three local hires may be subpoenaed for the investigation in Manila. “Since they are still hired, it will be very easy for us to let them appear in the investigation and for them to submit their pleadings,” Chavez said.

He added: “If they refuse to appear in the investigation and just disappear, it would be an indication of guilt.”

Baldoz turn-around?

Contacted by GMA News Online, Baldoz supported the retention of the three accused, despite her earlier memo ordering the non-renewal of local hires' contracts.

“That would make the three readily available if ever they will be needed in the investigation,” Baldoz said in a separate phone interview.

“Maganda na rin iyong ni-retain sila kasi if ever may mangyari sa kanila, pananagutan sila ng labor attaché doon. So responsibilidad sila ni Labor Attache Chavez,” said.

However, she acknowledged that the government would be helpless in case the three local hires resign from their jobs and decide to flee Kuwait altogether. “Wala na kaming magagawa doon kung gumawa sila ng mga ganoong personal na desisyon,” Baldoz said.

But lawyer Ahmed Paglinawan argued that “the application of criminal laws in general are territorial.” He pointed out that the three men cannot be charged and tried in court if they are outside the Philippines.

“And even if charged, the cases will have difficulty in prospering if the accused are not physically in the Philippines,” Paglinawan told GMA News Online.

Bello: Cancel their passsports

Rep. Bello, who chairs the House committee on overseas workers affairs, is calling for stronger measures and wants the three sent back to the Philippines to face investigation.

“Moreover, their passports should be cancelled by the DFA so they cannot flee to a third country,” the lawmaker told GMA News Online in an e-mail interview.

“My sense is that the DOLE leadership wants to protect the accused Kuwait personnel from effective administrative and criminal prosecution by keeping them in Kuwait,” Bello added.

In response, labor attaché Chavez said the three men will be sent home if they are summoned: “Of course, we will allow that.”

When the DOJ Task Force released its findings last year, Chavez had issued a statement denying the allegations.

“There are no sex-related activities at Post perpetrated by POLO personnel or anyone else under my stewardship,” he said. “The Embassy and the POLO under a new team of officials are doing well in combating trafficking and abuses against OFWs.”

Abuse of OFWs in Kuwait

The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait has long been seen as a hotbed of abuse of OFWs.

Ibrahim Daligdig Tanandato, head of the Assistance to Nationals unit at the embassy, was recalled in March 2013. According to the DOJ task force, he violated the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 and the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 as well as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Tanandato is the highest ranking official so far to be recommended for charges, despite repeated accusations by several complainants in their affidavits that some of his embassy superiors were also guilty of wrongdoing.

In its initial report last year, the anti-trafficking task force urged the DOJ to conduct a preliminary investigation of the embassy officials and staff in Kuwait.

Complainants have told the task force that a government official hired them to work as domestic helpers—with a monthly salary of 50 Kuwaiti dinars or around P7,900—without proper documentation from OWWA.

The government official then supposedly “took advantage of one of the victims by deceiving her that her back wages have not been paid yet by her previous lawyers,” the report said.

The task force recommended charges against lawyers Khaled Almas and Ayied Al-Subaie – who were hired to represent the embassy – as well as translator Muamar Mamosion for demanding money from the complainants.

The anti-trafficking panel said recruiters Mariam Macapudi and Dolores Suarez should also be charged for violating the Migrants Workers Act of 1995.

To date, despite two official DOJ reports on alleged abuses in Kuwait, not a single charge has been filed against any of the accused. – HS/YA, GMA News