Training for DH not mandatory under new policy- Brion

Not all outbound domestic helpers are required to undergo training under the new deployment guidelines issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion clarified yesterday. The training requirement becomes mandatory only after the jobseeker fails the trade testing three times, Brion said. He said a job applicant who has previous and extensive experience as a domestic helper either locally or abroad may choose to go directly for assessment to any accredited assessment centers of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda). Brion blamed disgruntled groups for spreading the misinformation that all Filipinos leaving the country to work as domestic helpers or in-house caregivers abroad will have to undergo training. Groups of recruiters and domestic helpers have been criticizing the training requirement as a scheme imposed by government to extort money from the workers. "As we have always been saying, the reforms that we have been implementing are for the long-term as the new standards would place the domestic helpers on a better footing against abuse and exploitation abroad," Brion stressed. "I appeal to our OFWs not to be misled by some quarters, in their veiled attempt to discredit the reforms that we have set in place," he said. POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz emphasized that the ultimate protection of all migrant workers is the possession of skills. "The domestic helper becomes more vulnerable to abuse when she does not have the necessary skills to operate the modern appliances and gadgets found in the homes of foreign employers," she said. "We are tired of hearing stories of Filipino maids being attacked in the face with a hot flat iron by her employer," Baldoz added. Under the new regulations, before a worker is deployed overseas, she must possess an HSW NC2 certificate from Tesda that will attest to her possession of the four core skills competencies: house cleaning, laundry and ironing, preparation of hot and cold meals, and provision of hot and cold food and beverage services. She said Tesda has the training and certification role in the new policies issued by the POEA governing board, and does not collect and prescribe the training cost. They allow training centers to determine their rate and compete with the market. The prevailing training fee ranges from P10,000 - P15,000 for 216 hours of training. The cost for Tesda assessment is only P1,000 and the whole assessment procedure takes about 3 - 4 hours. The assessment center issues the result immediately after. The corresponding NC2 certificate issued by the Tesda district office can be claimed after five days because Tesda reviews and validates the result and procedures conducted by the assessment center. An HSW (household service worker) who fails in the assessment has to wait for one month before she can undergo re-assessment to give her enough time to improve on her skills and increase her chances of passing the assessment. Brion asserted the workers that the new deployment policy was intended for the welfare of the Filipino workers, citing the support of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to the government's new policies aimed at better protecting domestic helpers, consistent with the body's decent work program. "The global Decent Work program of the ILO is being pioneered by the Philippines," Brion said. "Our efforts are also aligned with ILO Convention No. 181, which is against charging, either directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, any fees or costs to workers," he explained. Brion likewise noted the backing of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to the new policies particularly through the Bishops' Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI), joined by responsible licensed recruitment agencies of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and migrants' rights organizations. The militant United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil – Migrante – HK) has set another big protest rally in Hong Kong on Sunday to press the government to scrap new guidelines. “No deal. We will accept no less than the scrapping of the new POEA guidelines," said Dolores Balladares, Unifil chair. “The proposal for exemption is dangerous, double-edged and deceiving. It is just a ploy for current OFWs to accept the new guidelines," she averred. According to her, the POEA treats all OFWs who process their documents in the Philippines as newly-hires. These include newcomers, OFWs whose contracts have been terminated and have to process for new employers, and OFWs who have finished contracts but will change employers. “Ultimately, everyone is still affected. The exemption means nothing and serve no purpose except to dampen the indignation of current OFWs and thus allow for the interest of the Arroyo government to squeeze more funds from us," Balladares said. The group believes that with the support of church groups and religious organizations, the government would eventually yield to the demand to scrap the new guidelines altogether. - GMANews.TV