Agency denies deploying 85 OFWs to Qatar with fake contracts

MANILA, Philippines - A manpower agency on Thursday denied reports saying that it deployed 85 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to Qatar with fake employment contracts. Recruitment firm Batangueño Human Resources Inc. (BHRI) said the allegations by Migrante-Middle East were “untrue and without basis in fact and in law." “Fake contracts daw yung na-issue pero may certification ‘yun from POEA na valid [They said those are fake contracts but we have a certification from the POEA that those are valid]," BHRI owner Ruel Atienza told GMANews.TV in an interview on Thursday. Migrante based its statement on a complaint by OFW Gil Lebria before the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Doha, saying they were being forced to work for more than eight hours a day, with no day off, no payment of overtime work, and with unjustified deductions being made on their salary. Atienza said his company has checked with their principal and found that Lebria was the only one with such sentiments. The workers were employed by Woolim Plant Company, a Korean company serving as a subcontractor for Hyundai Engineering on its RAPO project in Ras Laffan area. “The contracts they signed and were submitted to POEA are the same contracts that they and Hyundai are adhering to at the jobsite in Doha, Qatar, thru the latter’s subcontractor, Woolim Plant Company. Therefore, the OFWs’ contracts as processed and approved by the POEA are valid employment contracts and not fake as alleged by one disgruntled employee, Gil Lebria," said the agency’s statement. But when POLO officials reportedly inspected the OFW’s papers, they found that the worker was given a fake contract because it did not have the signature of the POLO in Qatar. Migrante said that while the contracts bore the POLO seal, the documents have no Arabic translation. BHRI said they have already checked the validity of the contracts with the POEA many times now. “Nung nabasa ko ito, pumunta ako POEA para i-certify na totoo, valid talaga [When I read this report, I went to the POEA to have them certify our contracts as true, they really are valid]," said Atienza. He said BHRI was one of the top 50 recruitment agencies in 2008 as listed by the POEA. Its principal, Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. LTD., is also a registered company with the POEA and the recipient of a Ministerial Commendation in the Second International Employers Awards in 2005. The manpower agency has also reportedly contacted the administrative staff of Woolim to assure them that aside from Lebria, all the other OFWs at the jobsite are all doing well and have not complained about their working conditions. - GMANews.TV