Solon warns nurses going abroad: Don’t submit fake work documents

ACTS OFW party-list Representative John Bertiz on Sunday warned Filipino nurses en route to Saudi Arabia not to submit falsified credentials, including padded certificates of previous employment, to prevent getting in trouble with the Middle Eastern state.

In a statement, Bertiz said they have responded to more than 100 requests for assistance from Filipino nurses who were arrested and jailed for submitting fabricated eligibility papers in Saudi Arabia alone.

He said the fraudulent documents were discovered after the nurses had already spent months on the job in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

"We've also had cases of nurses with tampered papers who were either acquitted or deported after paying a stiff fine," Bertiz added.

The lawmaker pointed to crooked recruitment agencies in the Philippines as responsible for many cases of fraud.

"If the nurse for instance lacks the required duration of occupational experience, the dishonest recruiters themselves will produce the spurious papers, just so they can deploy [the nurse] and make money out of the job placement," Bertiz said.

"Sasabihin nila sa nurse, 'Kami na ang bahala dyan' o kaya 'Gagawan na lang namin ng paraan yan'," he added.

Bertiz cited, for instance, two cases of jailed nurses who claimed that their recruiters —FEMEX Recruitment Agency Inc. and MSL Star Human Resource Corp.—instructed them to submit the fraudulent documents and even facilitated the acquisition of the fake papers.

Bertiz has already filed a resolution seeking an investigation into the proliferation of forged credentials in compliance with company requirements.

"Recruiters are supposed to validate the papers of job applicants, and not facilitate fraud," he said.

The Saudi Labor Ministry, he added, can also be rigorous in fact-checking the qualifications of highly skilled professionals like doctors, nurses and engineers.

Bertiz said his party-list has been coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs to address and resolve the cases of the detained nurses.

"In fact, we raised the matter of the detained nurses when Saudi Prince and Interior Minister Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif visited Malacañang on March 19, and the Prince was kind enough to assure President [Rodrigo] Duterte that they would look into the concern," he said.

Aside from the Saudi prince, Bertiz said he has also asked help from the Saudi ambassador to Manila, Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bussairy. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News