Brion seeks ME help vs illegal recruitment

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has sought the cooperation of placement agencies in Bahrain and other Gulf states in the Philippine government’s campaign against illegal recruitment of Filipino workers. Brion, who is in the Middle East, warned of legal actions against erring recruitment agencies in Manila and other parts of the country. Eunice del Rosario of Gulf Daily News reported on Wednesday that Brion met with Philippine labor attaches in Dubai on Tuesday and told them the government would not be swayed into revising its policy doubling the monthly minimum wage for domestic helpers to $400. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have been repatriating hundreds of Filipinos from the Middle East countries in the past weeks, many of whom were victims of illegal recruitment and further subjected to physical and mental abuse by their foreign employers. Taking a cue from Brion, labor attaché in Bahrain Alejandro Santos said Philippine embassies in all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates -- will intensify their campaign against illegal recruitment of Filipinos. "The goal here is to minimize, if not eliminate, the number of Filipinos who are victimized by recruiters who promise them good-paying jobs in Bahrain and other Gulf countries; but upon arrival, these workers realize that they are left to fend for themselves or are given low-paying jobs," Santos said. Santos said the government would not give up to pressures to revise the increased salary rate for domestic helpers because it has been viewed as a way to stop, if not totally eliminate, abuses on Filipino household service workers. “The Philippines government said it had not changed its stance in the matter. In fact, it had only got stronger. The victimization of our workers must be stopped," Santos said. Earlier, recruitment agencies in the Gulf states have threatened to stop issuing visas to Filipino workers unless the Philippine government revises its policy on salary rates and a condition for employers to sign an agreement binding them to a penalty for non-compliance to the worker’s contract provisions. Middle East countries have been insisting that the Philippine labor policy was not binding to them, but then the Philippine government said it would not process workers’ contracts if their foreign employers would not comply with the policy. The labor attache said the Philippine government would now be putting recruitment agencies under scrutiny. "Those who are deploying workers illegally will be prosecuted," he said. "There would also be checks conducted at all major international airports in the Philippines for anyone traveling to the Gulf." All embassies will continue monitoring manpower agencies in their respective host countries, putting those found working with illegal recruiters in the Philippines on "blacklists". The Philippine Embassy in Bahrain has more than 30 recruiting agencies and independent employers on its blacklist. Contracts with these agencies would not be processed. Earlier, the labor department noted a 10 percent drop in the deployment of Filipino household workers to Bahrain between January and May. Brion said this was not because of the higher wage policy but because of the increasing demand for skilled workers and reduced job orders for DH. - GMANews.TV