Human Trafficking in the United States
Statue of Liberty
“Slavery is mutating and re-emerging in modern forms, including debt bondage, the sale of children, and the trafficking of women and girls for sex. Its roots lie in ignorance, intolerance and greed. We must create a climate in which such abuse and cruelty are inconceivable. One way is by remembering the past and honouring the victims of the transatlantic slave trade.” [1]
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message on the International Day of Remembrance
of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 2010
The idea that slavery could be occurring in the 21st century, within the United States, is difficult to conceive. Yet, stunningly slavery does, indeed, exist. Workers who legally enter the United States seeking safety and employment sometimes find just the opposite: oppression, violation of human freedoms and slave-like conditions. Working in varied positions from domestic help to shipyard workers, foreign workers may find themselves isolated, abused and exploited. Their abusers variously hide behind diplomatic immunity or count on inadequate government enforcement of labor laws. On several fronts, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is fighting for the rights of workers against these human traffickers.
Consider, for example, the case of domestic workers imported to this country by foreign diplomats. These workers, most often women, come to the United States with the hope of good paying jobs and the protection of US law. What they sometimes find are slave-like conditions working for literally pennies per hour. Their employers escape prosecution because US “laws grant foreign diplomats immunity from civil actions and criminal prosecution.”[2]
In 2007, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project (WRP) filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of five such domestic workers. The petition asked to hold the US accountable for its failure to protect the human rights of these workers. One of them, Raziah Begum of Bangladesh, worked for employees of the Bangladesh mission to the UN. It is alleged that she was paid the equivalent of six cents an hour for her around-the-clock, 7 day per week work. For over two years she was forced to sleep on a hard floor, without a mattress or blanket. In her testimony, Begum said: “They treated me no better than they would treat a stray dog. They tried to take from me my humanity.”[3]
In February of this year, the WRP along with eleven other organizations, also submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Vishranthamma Swarna. Ms. Swarna worked for a Kuwaiti diplomat and maintains that she, too, lived under slave-like conditions. Here again, the defendant claimed diplomatic immunity. In the amicus, it was argued that “human trafficking is a commercial activity engaged in for personal profit, which falls outside the scope of a diplomat’s official functions, and therefore diplomatic immunity does not apply.”[4]
The ACLU is also co-litigating a class action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of guestworkers from India. These workers were recruited to the US after Hurricane Katrina through the H-2B program to perform welding and pipe-fitting for Signal International shipyards in Mississippi and Texas. The workers assert that they were given assurances that they would be able to secure lawful, permanent residence. With the hope of a brighter future, these workers put themselves into debt to obtain the nearly $20,000 in fees it is said was charged by the Defendant. In exchange, the workers say that they were subjected to overcrowded, squalid living conditions—24 men to a trailer—psychologically coerced and also defrauded of their rightful pay.
The US has thus far failed in its obligation to protect the rights of these guest workers. As a signatory to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, it is obligated to do so. As ACLU co-counsel on the case, Chandra Bhatnager stated: “Trafficking immigrants to perform forced labor for little to no pay under the guise of a guestworker program amounts to involuntary servitude. “[5]
The fact that these cases exist in the United States, despite our laws to the contrary is very troubling. After all, we are supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Perhaps here is where Pogge’s words ring most true. “What is needed to make the object of a right truly secure is a vigilant citizenry that is deeply committed to this right and disposed to work for its political realization.”[6] Let us all endeavor to become more aware of these instances and fight against them accordingly.
[1] WWW.UN.ORG
[2] WWW.ACLU.ORG
[3] WWW.ACLU.ORG
[4] Ibid.
[5] WWW.ACLU.org
[6] Pogge, Thomas. World Poverty and Human Rights. P. 68.
© 2010, Donna McEachern. All rights reserved.
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An Open Letter to U.S. State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton Re: The worst that you could do is to take out the Philippines from the 2011 Human Trafficking Watch List
Dear Madam Secretary Clinton:
On April 27, 2011 the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines contradicted President Benigno Aquino’s announcement that the U.S. State Department has removed the Philippines from its Watch List of “Tier 2” States that do not fully comply with the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act and that although the April 2011 Interim Report had cited the “significant progress” the Philippines made in combating human trafficking, however not mentioned is a change in its status and the release of the next tier ranking is not scheduled until June. (Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2011/april/27/news4.isx&d= by E. B. Apolonio). The Philippine Bureau of Immigration also reported that the United States has stricken out the Philippines from said watch list (Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/314862/us-cites-manila-s-progress-vs-human-trafficking 4/19/2011 by Jun Ramirez)
Madam, I would like to urge you that a waiver be given to the Philippines, instead of removing it from the Watch List.
Why the waiver would be a better alternative, aside from the fact that it would be telling an ally the incovenient truth and also maintain the integrity of the report?
Undoubtedly, a waiver would apply a much needed political pressure to the Philippine government in rethinking a Labor Export Policy, institutionalized since 1973 that became more and more aggressive at the expense of neglecting its primary duty of ensuring that the Filipinos do not become victims of trafficking and other human right violations.
Now, regarding the findings of the U.S. June Interim Report that the Philippines has made “significant progress” in combating human trafficking, I would like to simply state, that perhaps not more significant than the ‘progress’ achieved by the syndicated human traffickers and perhaps not more significant than the fact that the Filipino is increasingly becoming the face of the transnational trafficked victim, be it labor, sex, drug, and other forms of human trafficking. Nothing could illustrate this better than the face of a trafficked Filipina household worker, drug mule or commercial sex entertainer. And more horrific than this, is the face of a Filipino child, victim of trafficking for sex tourism or cyber porno, undoubtedly brutalized and sometimes even cold bloodedly murdered, as in the case of a 6-year-old girl in Cebu last February.
While it’s true that the Aquino presidency is young, and to be exact not even a year old, therefore enough reason for the waiver, however many of the current bureaucracts are the same old faces in the notoriously corrupt administration of former President Gloria Arroyo, not only familiar with the dynamics of human trafficking, but also well versed with the same condition of collusion between traffickers and corrupt government officials, thus enough reason for the caution in removing the Philippines from the Watch list.
Madam, allow me to list the circumstances which led me to believe that granting a waiver to the Philippines is a better option than removing it from the watch list. I listed the folowing events covering dates from May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2011 with some overlapping periods and other exceptions made for the purpose of providing historical background. All are excerpted with sources duly noted.
THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT IS A DE FACTO TRAFFICKER
The Philippine government tolerates the human trafficking activities of its public agencies and officials. The government also creates situation of exploitation and enslavement for its most vulnerable citizens by continuously granting license to recruitment, travel, study-work visa or international education consultancies and other private agencies whose business practices include fraud, extortion, coercion, deception, imposition of exhorbitant and illegal fees that trapped workers into involuntary servitude, compelled domestic service, sex, debt and/or labor bondage. Undeniably, the government act as a de facto human trafficker whenever, it turns deaf ears to workers, complaining of human trafficking violation committed by the employers in non-payment of wages, contract substitution, forced confinement within the employer’s home or workplace and/or confiscation of travel documents like the Philippine passport, that is definitely a property of the government.
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“In November 2009, the Department of Justice filed trafficking charges against an immigration officer for her role in facilitating the illegal movement of domestic workers through an airport to Malaysia”(Source: U.S. State Department 2010 Human Trafficking Report http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/142761.htm
after the U.S. State Department released the 2010 Human Trafficking Report in June:
Former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra dropped human trafficking cases against 15 people, including a retired general and several immigration agents, who were implicated by a colleague who was once part of the syndicate at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport….The Blas F. Ople Policy Center thus asked Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to reverse Agra’s decision and proceed with the filing of administrative and criminal charges against those implicated by immigration agent Racel Ong… after she was identified by two trafficked victims as the one who facilitated their exit out of the country to Malaysia through the airport, Ong turned against her cohorts and provided details of the so-called escort system, which has immigration agents accompany human trafficking victims out of the normally stringent immigration rules at airports….Agra reversed the recommendations of Senior State Prosecutor Aileen Marie Gutierrez contained in her April 14, 2010 memorandum. The Agra decision came several weeks after the United States’ State Department released its report on human trafficking which put the Philippines in the Tier 2 Watch List for countries with a significant number of trafficked victims. The report noted that government officials were in cahoots with human traffickers…the two trafficked victims to Malaysia were just among several other victims of a syndicate that deployed tourist workers to Malaysia for a notorious human trafficker known for beating up his recruits… (Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20100704-279113/Ex-DoJ-chief-drops-trafficking-raps-vs-immigration-agents by Veronica Uy)
BI officer Rachel Ong told authorities that the other BI officers have been escorting passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, and that her superiors have been involved in the human trafficking operations at the DMIA since 2006. Ong said that human trafficking is a very profitable undertaking, and she used to earn P3,000 to P5,000 per Filipino worker illegally leaving DMIA. She said she was escorting at least 10 workers on a normal day of operation…( a multi-million racket that has been going on for years).(Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=549231&publicationSubCategoryId=63 DOJ orders probe on alleged human trafficking at Clark airport by Edu Punay February 13, 2010)
meanwhile, the trafficking syndicates continue to thrive after the case was dropped by the Department of Justice:
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/206812/pinoy-abroad/miriam-seeks-probe-on-trafficking-of-pinays-to-malaysia by Kimberly Jane Tan 11/24/2010 Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is seeking an investigation into the alleged use of the Diosadado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) as an exit point in the trafficking of Filipino women to Malaysia…a human trafficking syndicate has been using the DMIA in Pampanga to bring women from that province to Sandakan, Malaysia, where they are forced into prostitution…”There is a need to address the issue of the possible use of government facilities, such as the international airport, and the possible collusion of public officials assigned in such facilities with members of these trafficking syndicates,” Santiago said … also asked her colleagues to delve into the “seeming inability of these government personnel to prevent the continuing operation of these trafficking rings.”.. women are promised jobs as waitresses, a monthly salary of $600, free travel fare, and free board and lodging. Upon their arrival in Sandakan, Malaysia,.. the women are taken to a house, raped, and then brought to a brothel.. which caters to foreign sailors, is supposedly packed with around 200 women, most of whom hail from Pampanga.
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State Sponsored Human Trafficking in the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
When Diplomatic Immunity Turns Into Impunity
The Irish government’s Labour Relations Commission heard a claim on November 25, 2010 from a Filipina who had been employed by a diplomat serving at the Philippine Embassy in Dublin, that her employment as a domestic worker had been akin to that of a slave. These claims included a pay of only twenty five Euros a week, severe limitations on her freedom, intolerable working conditions and even that she was unable to use hot water for bathing and washing… the Migrants Rights Centre in Dublin represented the maid in her claim submission to the commission.. neither the embassy nor the diplomat concerned attended the hearing…A spokeswoman for the Philippines embassy in Dublin has stated that the embassy hoped to get both parties to resolve the issue (Source:.http://balitapinoy.net/journal/695777)
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When Complaints of a Victim in Netherlands Got Swept Under The Rug
Thanks to the ambassador’s chauffeur, Cheryl gets hold of a mobile phone. She calls the Philippine embassy in The Hague and tells them about her situation. “They answered that it wasn’t good for me to go outside, because the Philippine embassy didn’t want any trouble with the Saudis. The Saudis might stop issuing visas to Philippine workers. He told me I should ask the ambassador for more money myself. Of course, that wasn’t realistic.”
Source URL: http://www.rnw.nl/article/slaves-hague http://www.thehagueonline.com/headlines/2011-03-29/slaves-in-the-hague) Ambassadors and senior diplomats in The Hague are guilty of exploiting and imprisoning their staff. Domestic servants have told Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Dutch daily Trouw their stories of mistreatment. And the abuses are still happening today, according to the organisation Bonded Labour in the Netherlands (BLiN [1]). It’s nothing short of “modern slavery” says lawyer Antoinette Vlieger. Foreign diplomats in The Hague like to employ Philippine servants…They employ an army of waiters, cleaners, nannies and cooks, often brought in from overseas..one of them was 50-year-old Cheryl Barrio from the Philippines…she has to hand over her passport and tells her she’s not allowed to leave the house. A year later he says he needs more domestic staff. He has Cheryl’s daughter Amelia and son Benigno fly over from the Philippines. Their passports are also confiscated, and they’re also forbidden to set foot outside. The three know what they have to do: get up early, work and sleep… “We so much wanted to see what it was like outside,” says Cheryl… One time when they drove away we decided to go outside, even if it was only for a couple of minutes. We went into the garden and looked over the fence at the neighbours.” . Cheryl cooks for the ambassador and his family. The leftovers are for her and her children – she’s not allowed to cook separately…Finally Cheryl and her children can’t take it anymore. One morning, when everyone including the guard is still asleep, they leave the house via the cellar, and hail a taxi. The driver takes them to the Zuiderpark in The Hague, because he says they’ll be able to find other people from the Philippines there. The Filipinos asked if we were new in the Netherlands. I said ‘No, we’re only new to the outside world’” The Saudi embassy declines to comment on the story. The ambassador involved was elected Dutch ‘Ambassador of the year’ in 2006. He now works back in Saudi Arabia The names of the Philippine woman and her children have been changed at their request to protect their identity.© Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010
LOOKING BACK
in 2008 the US Immigration and Citizenship Services issued a T (for trafficking) visa to the Filipino woman who has sued former Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr. (head of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations from 2003 to 2007), his wife, daughter & the Baja-owned Labaire International Travel Inc. for trafficking, forced labor, peonage and racketeering…the complainant reportedly mortgaged her house to pay P250,000 for the package deal that included transportation to the United States, visa, work authorization and help in finding work as a nurse only to find herself working as a maid for the Bajas (Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20080710-147507/Ringing-phone-weeping-maid-a-friend-in-deed by Ninotchka Rosca). (additional notes by M.E. Embry: besides from the obvious conflict of interest, the involvement of a travel agency owned by a diplomat in unlicensed manpower recruiting activities should have been reason enough to trigger a separate investigation in the Philippines)
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Some Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) Officials were charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) with Human Trafficking violations and corruption by the former legal officer of POEA
Officials of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and 3 recruitment agencies were charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) for alleged human trafficking and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Lawyer Stephen Cascolan, former legal officer of POEA the complainant claims to have personal knowledge of the alleged violations of respondents Atty. Alejandro A. Padaen, Director IV for Adjudication; Atty. Jesus Gabriel C. Domingo, Director II for Legal Research, Docket, and Enforcement Branch; Atty. Marieta S. Labong dela Cruz, Attorney V, of the Docket and Enforcement Division; Ernesto B. Vistro, Administrative Aide VI (Sheriff); Nascel Gabito, Web Administrator, and the following recruitment agency officers: Edgardo D. Wisco of Worldview International Services Corporation of Malate, Manila; Marichu G. Elagha of Future Careers Recruitment Agency, Inc. of Ermita, Manila; and Amelita V.Villarosa of Shanlene Manpower and Recruitment Services of Malate, Manila. The complaint alleged that a total of 100 overseas Filipino workers [names as listed] were deployed in the year 2010 by the three (3) named agencies whose licenses were already cancelled by the POEA… because of recruitment violations..however, the subject agencies were advertised by the POEA as in good standing (Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/01/10/11/poea-officials-charged-human-trafficking-corruption by Ina Reformina
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Some POEA employees appealed to President Benigno Aquino to investigate Administrator Jennifer Jardin-Manalili (they also named: Atty. Grace Venus Atty. Stephen E. Cascolan, Atty. Lourdes Sebastian and Atty. Grace Venus, BM Chief Mario Naz) who performed..questionable if not downright illegal acts like:
Issuing Cancellation Orders but recalling them a few days after the agency visited the Administrator resulting in the issuance of an Order of Dismissal of the case. The latest of these is the case of Inter-globe where she issued a cancellation order. A few days after the agency received the order, she issued another order dismissing the case… the new order does not even mention the old order as if it never existed.. an attempt to remove the pertinent documents from the case folder.Even before the new order came out, the agency owner was already at the Docket and Enforcement Branch telling the people how to lift the order. Giving clemency to foreign employers and workers even without serving a single day of suspension. In certain instances clemency was also given even if the case is still pending appeal with the Office of the Secretary. The latest of these is the case of Mr. Latumbo who was given clemency even while an appeal was pending with the Secretary of the Department of Labor.Processing of workers of agencies whose license were already cancelled or suspended. They have been doing this for a long time and still continue to do so despite the fact that this is strictly prohibited under Republic Act 10022.Approving the processing of documents and deployment of workers in total disregard of existing rules and regulations such as the ban on direct hiring, the Household Service Workers policy reforms, the Labor Code provisions on probationary period, among others. Allowing the processing of workers as balik-manggagawa as arranged by …Stephen Cascolan and BM Chief Mario Naz reportedly to favor an agency or entity close to someone high in the Administration. Allowing processing of documents and deployment of workers by agencies whose licenses have been cancelled, suspended or to principals who are watchlisted. Allowing …Stephen Cascolan and Tootsie Sebastian to give direct orders to units in following up concerns of some recruitment agencies even if not in accordance with the rules or procedures. (Source: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=101836783205053&topic=123 Title: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT by: Concerned POEA Employees posted by Labsko)
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 16, 2011 9:20:31 AM INTER-GLOBE MANPOWER AND CONSULTANCY SERVICES INC INTRAMUROS, MANILA Official Representative : CAPT LUPO ‘LOU” A ATIENZA Status : Good Standing License Validity : 8/21/2007 to 8/20/2011
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When the complaints from the U.S. State Department Fraud Division was ignored by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
The US State Department confirmed that it has been processing applications from prospective Filipino workers bound for Guam who admit they paid placement or recruitment fees to their manpower agencies. Philippine Consul General Bayani S. Mercado said he met with the US State Department’s Fraud Prevention acting manager Clay Allen to discuss joint measures to inform the general public about the “no recruitment fee” policy for the H2B visa. During the meeting, Allen added that Topline Manpower Services, a Philippines-based manpower agency faulted for violating the policy, continues to operate as a labor recruitment agency despite the US Embassy in Manila sending notice to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. (Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20100822-288200/Prospective-OFWs-told-No-recruitment-fee-for-Guam-jobs)
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 12, 2011 1:59:39 PM TOPLINE MANPOWER SERVICES QUEZON CITY Status : Good Standing License Validity : 2/9/2011 to 2/8/2015
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an unnamed recruitment agency in the Philippines allegedly charge workers illegal fees in deployment to the United Kingdom, a country with a ‘no recruitment fee’ policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/13/investigation-alleged-illegal-supply-dairy-workers…criminal investigation into the alleged illegal supply of workers to dairy farms…More than 40 farms..include some of the largest farms in the country.. 16 counties in England, Wales and Scotland…Marden Management’s managing director, Christopher Blakeney, brought dozens of Filipino workers to Britain with a permit from the UK Borders Agency to fill vacancies on large farms from Cornwall to Scotland…Some Filipino workers have alleged that Blakeney co-ordinated with a recruiting agency in the Philippines which charged them for finding jobs and arranging permits and visas. To charge workers for this service is a breach of the licensing standards in the UK.. Gavin Davies, farm manager of Stowell Farms in Wiltshire, owned by a trust of the Rothschilds, the banking family.. Nathaniel Rothschild, whose close friends have included Lord Mandelson and Chancellor George Osborne, has been quoted as taking an interest in agriculture, but a spokesman said he has little day-to-day involvement in the farm…He added that none of the Rothschild family had been interviewed by the GLA or knew about the Marden contracts…Some Filipinos have also alleged Marden paid less than the agricultural minimum wage, withheld wages as a cash bond and required them to work up to 70 hours a week… a Filipino worker took him to tribunal earlier this year to reclaim a £2,800 cash bond he said had been deducted from his pay…Juan said he paid nearly £300 to an agency that works with Marden in the Philippines to get him a work permit, and a further similar amount for a visa…He then also paid a £1,400 bond back home which was supposed to be returned if he completed two years in the job with Marden in the UK
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When the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) allegedly aunthenticates employment contract in countries like Jordan that has existing deployment ban
Some 50 organizations and individuals launched “Bring Them Home”, an anti-human trafficking alliance calling on the government to facilitate the immediate repatriation of overseas Filipino victims of human trafficking. One of the leading convenors of the alliance is Melith Ante, herself a victim of human trafficking and one of the more fortunate who was able to come home. Her sister, Lenen, is one of the more than 100 OFWs who are still on hunger strike at the POLO-Jordan (Philippine Overseas Labor Offices) Bring Them Home was conceived following the cases of 100++ OFWs in Jordan, mostly women and some as young as 14 years old, who have been awaiting repatriation for as long as two years now. The Jordan 100++ OFWs were all victims of human trafficking and sought refuge in the POLO-Jordan after they escaped their employers due to maltreatment, non-payment of wages, sexual and physical abuse and harassment and slave-like conditions. Based on accounts of the OFWs and their families, most of them were able to enter Jordan via HongKong, Malaysia and Dubai to evade the existing deployment ban to Jordan. When they entered Jordan, however, their employment contracts were authenticated by the POLO in Jordan. According to Sr. Catabian, “There is an immediate and urgent need to investigate the continuing recruitment of OFWs to Jordan despite the ongoing deployment ban issued by the Philippine government following cases of abuse from the region in 2007. We have verified with the POEA and they have affirmed that the ban is still in effect. This is clear violation of the law.”For her part, Esguerra said, “POLO, DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) and DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) have some serious explaining to do. POLO’s main responsibility, in compliance with the ban, is to immediately assume that any Filipino national they may encounter is a victim of human trafficking and therefore exhaust all efforts to send them home. (why authenticate) employment contract? Is this not state-sponsored human trafficking?” (Source: http://bringofwshome.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/copy-of-employment-certificates-authenticated-by-polo-in-jordan-despite-deployment-ban/contract1-2/
allegedly advising workers to pay for deployment cost for “unexpired contract” despite the deployment ban..giving such advice to Jean Dasa, a runaway trafficking victim, who was formerly under the custody of a local Jordanian recruitment agency. Ms. Dasa’s family raised the money needed and sent to POLO OWWA on March 5, 2010. While waiting, Ms. Dasa opted to go to jail to avail of repatration. On October 11, 2010, she was back in the Philippines hoping to get her money back from POLO OWWA
although there is an existing deployment ban in Jordan since January 2008, an employment certificate between Yousef Mandoh Kakish, employer and Maria Theresa Jasmin Campos, a Filipino Household Worker was aunthenticated on December 9, 2009 by Assistant Labor Attache Ofelia M. Castro Hudson and signature of Labatt Hudson was certified by Vice Consul Jeffrey P. Salik Ref: Document #1982 Series #2009 Book2 page 88 Fee paid JD 26250 OR #4556895 Svc# 4400 letterhead Embassy of the Philippines Consular Section City of Amman Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan online copy posted by bringofwshome anti human trafficking alliance10/21/2010 @ http://bringofwshome.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/copy-of-employment-certificates-authenticated-by-polo-in-jordan-despite-deployment-ban/contract1-2/
(Looking Back on Asst Labor Attache Ofelia Hudson)
More on Assistant Labor Attache Ofelia Hudson on a different set of complaint of human trafficking activities against her, this time while she was stationed in Kuwait (portion of the interview are in Pilipino language that could be accessed thru the website & are graphic description of allegations of inhumane treatment of the distressed workers)
Runaway overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait now living at a halfway home have accused a Philippine assistant labor attaché in the Kuwait of engaging in human trafficking. Jenny (not her real name), an OFW who sought shelter at the halfway home run by Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), accused assistant labor attaché Ofelia Castro Hudson of “selling” them to agencies there in exchange for “cash and gifts.” The OFWs are then forced to work against their will, Jenny added. Hudson is reportedly in a rift with welfare officer in Kuwait Atty. William Mergenio, whom the runaways believe is protecting their interests and is fighting for their repatriation. Ana, another runaway OFW, said labor officers were allegedly forcing her to stay and work for another employer despite her traumatic experience with her former employer. Runaway OFWs also complained about their prolonged stay in Kuwait. Jenny said employers conjure cases against them, which make their situation more dire. Jenny, Anna and other runaway OFWs bared their complaints in affidavits. Administrator Carmelita Dimzon said most OFWs stay longer in Kuwait because they could not secure exit passes from their employers. “The moment they leave, they are violating the laws of the country. The employers won’t secure exit passes and maybe file a case against the OFW. Our welfare officer is espousing their repatriation and sue the agencies,” she added. Dimzon, meanwhile, said she has yet to verify reports of alleged human trafficking and political bickering between its welfare and labor officers. Source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/labor-attach-kuwait-involved-trafficking-142101886.html ABS-CBN – May 5, 2011
More on complaint in Kuwait of Philippine government agencies allowing the return of workers to an abusive employer
Luzel Ramos Rebuyan, a Filipina domestic helper is reportedly in critical condition due to a fall from an alleged botched escape from her employer’s house in Kuwait… used a robe to escape from the 3rd floor of a building in Salmiya… fell when the robe got torn… ran away from her first employer because of maltreatment… was transferred to another employer… also maltreating her…decided to run away, but the second employer went to the PH embassy, fetched her and brought her back to their house to continue her work… based on the information provided by OWWA staffer in Davao City, that an attempted suicide case will be filled against her and that her employer will not be helping her (Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/04/29/11/pinay-ofw-kuwait-reported-critical-after-fall)
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More on complaint of abuse from Filipina Domestic Workers and how Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay applied political spin to the miseries of the trafficking victims. Veep Binay is the Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFWs) Concerns and Chairman Emeritus of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT)
Some 115 distressed Filipino workers, all women, returned home from Kuwait.. 33-year-old Evangeline.. escaped her abusive employer after eight months on the job as a domestic worker…there are still many Filipinas there, waiting to be repatriated. But they can’t because they are facing cases.. there were many Filipino domestic workers who literally had to jump out of the windows of buildings to escape their employers. this is why many wards at the FWRC have leg fractures…others could not be repatriated as they were still facing charges..they are the most pitiful because they’ve been there for a long time and some of them have lost their minds.. counted herself lucky for not being raped or maimed….Vice President Jejomar Binay, who secured amnesty for the women and arranged their repatriation …welcomed them as they arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport via a Singapore Airlines flight…and he said employer abuse of Filipino workers, particularly in Arab countries, was less widespread than believed, noting that violence against domestic workers comprised only a small percentage of work-related crimes in the Middle East. (Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20110414-331097/115-OFWs-return-from-Kuwait-with-sad-stories by DJ Yap 04/14/2011) (notes by M.E. Embry: not surprising for the ‘small percentage of work-related crimes reported’ since the domestic workers are actually not included in the labor laws!!)
Earlier, the DFA (Phillipine Department of Foreign Affairs) classified Kuwait as among the countries where the rights and welfare of migrant workers are protected. Previous to the classification, however, two Filipina workers there were brutally murdered: one was tortured to death by her Kuwaiti employer, while the other was stabbed at least 31 times by her Egyptian husband.(Source: http://pinoyoverseas.net/news/middle-east/kuwait/kuwait-agencies-vow-protection-for-pinoy-helpers/ December 18th, 2010 by Jerrie M. Abella
more on the tortured to death Filipina worker, maltreated on a daily basis, crushed to death by car & found near horse stables in Kuwait & her serial abuser employer:
July 17 2010: Detectives belonging to Ahmadi CID have unraveled the murder mystery of a Filipino woman whose corpse was found near horse stables area in Kaba..the family had returned the maid to a domestic workers’ office over three months ago…Officers came to know that another Kuwaiti woman had hired the maid using a stolen ID card and fictitious phone numbers. The woman, who stays in Salwa, later confessed that she and her husband maltreated the maid on a daily basis. When they feared that the maid would die, they took her in their car to the stables area and crushed her under their vehicle to give an impression that she was run over by a motorist. The woman’s husband also corroborated her confession. Earlier, when officers reached the address the woman gave at the domestic workers’ office, they found another woman who had no clue about the victim. They then discovered that the suspects stole the ID card of the woman to employ the victim. After a lot of effort, investigation men finally managed to reach the suspects and arrested them. Officers found out that the woman had earlier maltreated several other housemaids. (Source: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/156960/reftab/96/t/Couple-admits-killing-Filipina-maid/Default.aspx)
More on Filipinas jumping out from buildings as the cause of fractured leg, this time in Saudi
Two Filipino workers arrived home Wednesday acting strangely. The signs of traumatic disorders they exhibited may be due to their experiences abroad, authorities said…Evangeline D. and Marlou T, both Malaybalay, Bukidnon natives, separately arrived at the terminal looking distressed, said personnel of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1. Evangeline has worked in Saudi Arabia for the past 5 years…because of her fractured left leg, she was wheeled into the Arrival Immigration area…later, the husband.. added that the abusive treatment led his wife to jump out from the second floor of the employer’s home abroad.(Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/03/02/11/2-ofws-arrive-home-show-trauma-disorders
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When the Philippine Government not only ignored its two Congressional fact-finding mission & its recommendation, but also the required condition for labor deployment as mandated by: the Ammended Migrant Workers Act or RA 10022
In January 2011 the Philippine Congressional Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs (COWA) Representatives Walden Bello (chairman), Maria Apsay, Cresente Paez & Emmeline Aglipay went on an official fact-finding mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reported the experience of many Filipina domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, which Bello said is a life of unrelenting terror and abuse that has persisted for the longest time that Filipino domestics have been deployed to the Kingdom… one chapter devoted to the case of domestic workers that revealed ordeals of rape and physical abuse domestic workers suffered in the hands of the Saudi employers…. the reality is that Saudi labor laws do not recognize domestics as laborers, their laws are unable to protect the rights welfare of domestic or household service worker… abuse is so prevalent that there was a near consensus among the Filipinos..in Saudi, both professionals and low-skilled workers, that the country should discourage domestics from seeking employment in Saudi…need to hold accountable the Saudi government… need to compel them to police their own citizens and protect the rights and welfare of Filipino domestic workers…the recently amended Migrant Workers’ Act required a certification of countries into categories of fit or unfit to receive Filipino workers….in the hearings of the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs in February, the Department of Foreign Affairs said they had issued the certification that labor laws in Saudi are not compliant to Sec. 3 of the ammended Migrant Workers Act or RA 10022 (below) as far as domestic workers are concerned.
“From China, where three Filipinos were recently executed, to the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, it becomes difficult to protect our OFWs because we lack a clear national policy on migration and a clear agreement with host countries for the welfare of migrant Filipinos,” Bello added…he agreed that one solution to the problem of abuse is to negotiate a bilateral labor agreement with host countries like Saudi Arabia that would stipulate.. require the host government to respect the rights and secure the welfare of Filipino migrant workers. Source: excerpt from an e-mail received by the undersigned from the offices of Rep Walden Bello on March 30, 2011 (emphasis applied)
.. testimonies of the women in the shelters revealed in many cases a situation of virtual slavery… working day of 18 to 22 hours, constant threat of sexual abuse from employers to whom the women gave the term “maniacs,” and beatings, sometimes with the use of hot irons, by the wife of the employer….most of the women in the shelter are victims of physical violence, including rape and other forms of sexual abuse..the trip also revealed collusion between unscrupulous recruitment agencies in Manila and their counterparts in Saudi Arabia that result in household workers being paid significantly less wages than they agreed to before leaving the Philippines… the vital but unsung role played by Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO).. severely understaffed, yet their rescue teams have liberated scores of Filipinas from oppressive employers who have often locked them up. The rescue missions are sometimes dangerous; in one instance, a team had to rescue a Filipina from a remote tribal area where they were met and threatened with tribesmen bearing rifles… the missions are also often carried out with minimum knowledge of the location of the victims who cannot give clear directions because they are not familiar with the neighborhoods in which they are located. In some cases, high tech electronic assistance to pinpoint the location of the victims by tracing their cell phone signals is provided by Filipinos working in Saudi telecommunications companies (Source: e-mail received of Press Release From: Walden Bello Date: Friday, January 14, 2011, 11:38 PM)
a full copy of the COWA report may be found at:
http://www.pinoy-abroad.net/img_upload/025b967d5657e4bcc3cb374d7eb58846/COWA_report_Saudi.pdf
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49819988/The-Conditions-of-Overseas-Filipino-Workers-in-Saudi-Arabia
an earlier fact finding mission sent from November 2 to 8 2009 and conducted by Reps Rufus Rodriguez, Luz Ilagan & Carlos Padilla, also considered recommending a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in the Middle East. The team met with about 400 overseas Filipino workers in various shelters in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Riyadh, and Jeddah.(Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20091109-235197/Solons-mull-OFW-ban-in-the-Middle-East by Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
More on Section 3 of RA Act 10022
the Philippine government is set to comply with Section 3 of the newly amended “Migrant Filipinos and Overseas Workers Act” of 2009, also known as Republic Act 10022. This law mandates the POEA to deploy workers only to countries that: a) have existing social and labor laws protecting the rights of workers including migrant workers and is taking steps to positive and concrete steps; b) is a signatory or has ratified international declarations on the protection of migrant workers; and c) has bilateral agreements with the Philippines on the protection or rights of OFWs. It specifies the deadline for the certification on Feb. 24, 2011, (notes by M.E. Embry: date of certification originally on Nov 1, 2010) during which Philippine Embassy officials should have issued certifications on qualified OFW receiving countries, but the POEA Governing Board has not decided on these certifications for the past two months. Vice President Jejomar Binay, presidential adviser on overseas employment, has suspended the certification process… most of the certifications submitted by Philippine embassy or consular officials have recommended that the deployment of household service workers (HSWs) be discontinued as many of the Middle East countries do not have labor laws which protect domestic workers….only 57 countries have signed the UN Convention on the protection of migrant workers and none of the top 10 OFW destination countries have signed the UN Convention.Given these conditions, the Philippines government is allegedly mulling a ban on the deployment only of HSWs. However, (recruitment consultant Emmanuel) Geslani pointed out, Section 3 does not contemplate “selective deployment.” (Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/3174/further-drop-in-deployment-of-filipino-workers-to-middle-east-feared 08-May-11)
Again, the Vice President of the Philippines: (Veep) Binay wants rules that triggered ban on Filipino maids scrapped and suggested the lowering of the slave wages of the ‘maid in the Philippines’ to make her more affordable to the Saudi household
ARAB NEWS Apr 5, 2011 Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay says he wants Manila to scrap some of its rules that has caused Saudi Arabia to stop hiring Filipino household workers. Binay arrived in the Kingdom a week ago to meet with Saudi officials after the Kingdom rejected a Philippine rule that requires verification of new contracts of maids being sent to work in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom’s rejection of the requirement has meant that no new contracts could be processed. He said the Kingdom objected in particular to a requirement that prospective Saudi employers provide a sketch and photograph of their houses. Another rule being objected to, he said, was the imposition of a $400 minimum monthly salary, which many Saudi families reportedly could not afford.. However, it has turned out that this rule was being circumvented. Our workers are given contracts for $400 but when they reach the workplace, they are given new contracts or the pay they were promised are not given in full, resulting in more of our domestic workers running away from their employers,”…Binay said he wanted to see these rules scrapped if they cause more harm than good to Filipino workers and the Philippine economy as a whole… Binay said he was surprised to find out that in Saudi Arabia, the majority of Filipino workers belong to the skilled and professional brackets, and are largely content. He said only about 15 percent of the Filipino workers are domestic helps. “This is not to say that we should neglect them. We will continue to give them protection and welfare,” he said (Source: by ROMY TANGBAWAN (notes by M.E. Embry: 15% of ‘domestic helps’ out of the estimated 1.5 million overseas Filipino workers in Saudi is subtantial & looking after their welfare should not be an after-thought)
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The business practices of some Licensed Recruitment Agencies, Travel, Visa Facilitators, International Education Consultancies, Money Lending Companies in the Philippines
Placewell International Services Corporation involved in fraudulent documentation in Human Trafficking case of 13 Filipinos in West Palm Beach, Florida remains licensed in ‘Good Standing’ in the Philippines. Placewell also lost a case in 2006 before the Philippine Supreme Court for contract substitution besides acting as the recruitment agency for the problematic Annasban Company in Saudi
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/12/14/10/pinoy-couple-meted-maximum-prison-time-human-trafficking by Don Tagala After pleading guilty to forcing at least 39 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to work under threat of arrest and deportation, Sophia Manuel and her husband, Alfonso Baldonado, owners of Quality Staffing Corporation Services, a labor contracting company in Boca Raton, Florida were sentenced to maximum prison time allowed by law…the Filipinos came to the US as guest workers in 2007 and 2008… paying up to $5,000 in recruitment and placement fees…
case Re: Quality Staffing Corporation Services pages 6 to 10 describes in detail the role played by the recruiting agency Placewell International Services Corporation
The State of Florida Court Case: date accessed 12/12/2010: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-7BTQHE/$file/QualityStaffingComplaint.pdf
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp (The Official Website of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA):
Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 6, 2011 10:10:55 AM PLACEWELL INTERNATIONAL SERVICES CORPORATION ERMITA, MANILA Status : Good Standing License Validity : 3/25/2008 to 3/24/2012
(Looking Back)
More on Placewell and a lawsuit about contract substitution that went all the way to the Philippine Supreme Court in 2006
http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2006/jun2006/gr_169973_2006.html
G.R. No. 169973 June 26, 2006
PLACEWELL INTERNATIONAL SERVICES CORPORATION, Petitioner,
vs.
IRENEO B. CAMOTE, Respondent.
R.A. No. 8042 explicitly prohibits the substitution or alteration to the prejudice of the worker, of employment contracts already approved and verified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) from the time of actual signing thereof by the parties up to and including the period of the expiration of the same without the approval of the DOLE……Consequently, the solidary liability of petitioner with SAAD for respondent’s money claims continues in accordance with Section 10 of R.A. 8042.
(Looking Back)
More on Placewell & other recruitment agencies, this time in Saudi
Benjie Alcabaza, meanwhile, said her OFW wife fears for her safety as some of her fellow OFWs locked up in the company warehouse get beaten up by the company’s personnel…They were brought in the desert, locked up inside a bus, and through the small holes of the bus, Annasban personnel would throw them lit cigarettes. They thought they were going to be burned alive…Annasban is owned by the “powerful” Al Nasban family, according to Migrante, which includes Engineer Fahad Al Nasban, who is also an immigration police, as its director general. (Source: Migrant group calls for ban of ‘notorious’ Saudi firm for detaining 88 OFWs by Charles Kelly on January 17, 2010 http://www.gmanews.tv/story/185439)
third day of staging a hunger strike, five more Pinays in the Kingdom are pleading with the Philippine government to speed up efforts to repatriate them, about two months after they stopped working in protest of what they allege as harsh work conditions.The five overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are all women caregivers employed by the Annasban Group, a multimillion-riyal maintenance and operations firm previously implicated in several other complaints of unfair labor practices… they have been “detained” in the company-owned facility in Riyadh for about two months now, while awaiting results of their request to be sent home. Early this year, 43 other OFWs from Annasban have been repatriated by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) also after refusing to go to work on similar grounds. …The five workers said they are now being forced by Annasban to pay 5,000 riyals (about P61,314) to cover their deployment costs after breaching their contracts…Amid their seemingly hopeless conditions, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and OWWA in Riyadh appear equally helpless, to the point that one official says the workers’ plight may actually be of their own making…”They are at fault here because they stopped work, so all we can do is ask Annasban to allow them to go home,” said welfare officer Nestor Burayag in a separate interview. OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon said in another interview that the OFWs’ repatriation is “solely” dependent on Annasban…Unless we can negotiate with the employer to issue them exit visas, they can’t go home. Exit visas are the only way for them to be repatriated,” Dimzon explained. Annasban had been disqualified from participating in the overseas employment program in 2005 due to a number of previous complaints against the company. The order was lifted in 2008 after Riyadh Labor Attaché Rustico Dela Fuente said the cases had been resolved and the agency had reformed its system of employing OFWs. Records from the migrants’ rights group Migrante International however show that even during the three-year ban, the company was able to recruit OFWs. In fact, Migrante had received requests for assistance from at least 137 OFWs in five separate complaint cases, ranging from contract substitution and illegal extension of contract duration, to prolonged working hours and physical abuse. Annasban hires Filipino workers through recruitment agencies
Placewell International Service Corporation, Saveway International, Global Jobsearch Services Inc., United Placeman Philippines Inc., MHHR Manpower Recruitment & Placement Agency Corp. and GMBLT Manpower Services Inc., according to Migrante.(Source: No end in sight for OFW woes in Saudi firm, as more workers plead for help by JERRIE M. ABELLA 03/06/2010
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 6, 2011 10:10:55 AM
UNITED PLACEMAN PHILIPPINES INC ERMITA, MANILA Status : Good Standing License Validity : 7/3/2010 to 7/2/2014
GLOBAL JOBSEARCH SERVICES INC BANGKAL, MAKATI Status : Good Standing License Validity : 10/17/2007 to 10/17/2011
SAVEWAY INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER SERVICES ERMITA, MANILA Status : Good Standing License Validity : 12/13/2009 to 12/12/2013
MHHR MANPOWER RECRUITMENT & PLACEMENT AGENCY CORPORATION MALATE Status : Preventive Suspension License Validity: 10/1/2010 to 9/30/2014
GMBLT Manpower Services Inc., (notes by M.E. Embry: can not locate this particular agency in the POEA database)
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AISIS INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER, INC. involved with the deployment of some ‘distressed runaways’ in Jeddah Saudi remains licensed in ‘Good Standing’ in the Philippines
Focus: the ‘Trail of Tears’ for hundreds of Filipinos and their children since 2007 in Jeddah Saudi
distressed Filipinos with their children are progressively camping under the Khandara Overpass like storm drain rats.. then like refugees, building a ‘Tent City’ beside the Philippine Consulate building… before moving to the Hajj Terminal & later are picked up for the deportation center and repatriation to the Philippines; …’trail of tears’, indeed especially for the children
excerpt: .. Saudi police swooped down on the expatriates..who had been camping for several months under the bridge of Khandara where the flood rose up to chest level…walked all the way to the Deportation Center…following morning..ordered to report to their respective consulates..accompanied by concerned community leaders.. march to the Consulate several kilometers away. Babies on their mothers` arms while clutching bags and boxes, small kids with heavy backpacks tugging on the abayas of their mothers who were carrying suitcases and cartons, most of them being assisted by chivalrous Pinoys who could not stand the sight of Pinays burdened with heavy loads. only to be told that they, cannot go inside the Philippine Consulate! the runaways set up camp on a vacant lot outside the compound of the Consulate…The plight of our unfortunate compatriots also reached the ears of a benevolent princess who dug into her royal pouch..Some kind-hearted Saudis also donated food supplies. Pinoys in Diaspora clogged cyberspace with e-mails to officials of POEA, OWWA, DOLE..the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Office of the President was also deluged with e-mails and appeals….to no avail. Except for congressmen Walden Bello and Ted Casiño, none of the so-called public servants…cared to respond to our appeal. But what brought about this problem? Interviewed at random, it was found out that some of the runaways, who came all the way from Dammam and travelled 4 days to reach Jeddah, were deployed by a certain “Aisis International”, a recruitment agency whose president is a certain Noemi B. Miraflor. The recruits, all 80 of them who are “first-timers”, were made to sign contracts for SAR 950 (US$1 = SAR 3.75). How such “Contracts” passed the “scrutiny” of POEA is a mystery. When they arrived in Dammam, their employer forced them to sign another contract for SAR 600, yet at the end of the month, they received only SAR 500. Demoralized, they decided to abandon their employer.. After 4 days, they arrived in Jeddah, bedraggled, hungry and broke. (Source: http://worldwidefilipinoalliance.com/blog.php?blog_id=24 The Distressed OFWs in Jeddah by: Arman Muleem http://www.philippinenews.com/opinion/1202-the-filipino-spirit-beckons-how-about-tuning-in-on-the-distressed-ofws-in-jeddah-saudi-arabia.html by Ludy Ongkeko 3/19/2011
More on Aisis International Manpower Agency
family of Eugenia Baja expressed doubts..suicide.. allegedly banged her head on the tiles.. severe hemorrhage and skull fracture caused her death. The family is pleading for an immediate investigation following different reports issued from Saudi Arabia surrounding her death.. Aisis International Manpower Agency, Manila-based recruitment agency sent Baja to Saudi Arabia to work as “patient server” on May 6, 2007. But she was asked to sign another contract as a domestic helper. “She had no choice but to sign it because she was already in a foreign land,” her family said. Six months later, Baja called her family in Bohol and told them she has not received yet any salary from her (Maj. Abdulasis Alhusim) Arab employer. She was tired, distressed and helpless, her family said. The last communication … wanted to go back home last January 2008.. the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) informed Baja’s family that the OFW died in a hospital on Feb. 24, 2008 due to an unspecified sickness. DFA sent them a second formal letter informing the family that Baja died of suicide .(http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=110834&d=13&m=6&y=2008&pix=world.jpg&category=World) Family of Dead Filipino Maid Cries Foul by Gloria Esguerra Melencio 13 June 2008
Re: on 8/18/2006, another OFW complaint of unpaid salaries & illegal dismissal from her job in Saudi Aisis & M.I. B. Miraflor lost a Court of Appeals case CA-G.R.SP NO. 94349 (Source: http //elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/court_of_appeals.php?doctype=court%20of%20appeals%20decisions&docid=a45475a11ec72b843d74959b60fd7bd6460abdfe9e8d8)
More on Aisis
When the remedy brokered by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) for the human trafficking victims was paying a penalty while Aisis & Al-Ahram recruitment agencies were allowed to keep their license, perhaps inflicting the same cycle of human trafficking miseries to other workers
At least 10 Filipino workers victimized by contract substitution in Saudi Arabia were repatriated to the Philippines.. Philippine labor officials said the repatriation followed prolonged negotiations with Afras Company, which employed the Filipinos last year. “The 10 Filipino workers ran away from their employer twice after their contract was substituted, resulting in a situation where many of them were not fit for the jobs they were assigned to. Their salaries were also lower than what they had signed for before leaving the Philippines,” ..(POLO-Riyadh) Assistant Labor Attaché Wally Villazor said in an article posted Sunday on Saudi-based news site Arab News.He added at least six more Filipino workers will also be leaving on April 20. Also, the POLO is working for the repatriation of 23 more Filipino workers who ran away from Afras.
.. Villazor said the POLO negotiated with the two recruitment agencies in Manila — AISIS and Al-Ahram — and their representative in Saudi Arabia.“We suggested that we resolve the problem by coming up with amicable settlements. As a result, the agencies paid the tickets while the OFWs had to pay Afras SR1,000 (P11,523) each,” he said.(Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/218024/pinoy-abroad/10-ofws-victimized-by-contract-substitution-repatriated 4/17/2011)
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 12, 2011 1:59:39 PM AISIS INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER, INC. ERMITA, MANILA Official Representative : NOEMI B MIRAFLOR
Status : Good Standing License Validity : 6/7/2010 to 6/6/2014
AL-AHRAM INTERNATIONAL GROUP SERVICES INC MABINI ERMITA, MANILA; Status : Good Standing; License Validity : 10/9/2010 to 10/8/2014
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Hannah International Manpower Services remains licensed in ‘Good Standing’ in the Philippines, although with incident of deploying domestic workerS in Saudi who suffered severe maltreatment from employers
Reports of Arab employers maltreating their domestic helpers are very common to this columnist. But the experience of Maricel 28y, in the hands of her Saudi masters takes the cake. Maricel showed me the many whip marks and scars on her back caused by shallow stab wounds, her hands that she could not clench because of scars caused by flat iron burns, her right eye that has gone blind because it was poked with a stick, her disfigured feet caused by beatings using hard wood. Maricel’s employers were Muhammad Abdullah Alkatani, allegedly a police general, and his wife Najela Hadawi Alkatani. There was a time, she said, when she and another Filipino maid were made to stand stark naked under the heat of the sun for hours. The beatings, which took place every day, apart from other indignities, began three days after they started working in the Alkatani household in June, 2008 until their departure on Feb. 27, 2011. Adding salt to the wound, Maricel and her fellow maids were not given their salaries for the duration of their stay in that hell hole. Maricel said they worked 22 hours daily, sleeping for only two hours, without any day off for two years and eight months. She was handed only 3,000 rials (P30,000) by her employers when she left for the Philippines. Maricel said she was recruited by Hannah International Manpower Services with offices on Buendia Avenue in Makati City. The firm is owned by Muhammad Qwaiter, a Jordanian, and his Filipino wife Edith. When her male employer beat her on her third day of work, Maricel said she sent a text message to Edith Qwaiter to complain. Instead of rescuing her, Edith allegedly told her employer about her complaint, so she suffered more beatings (Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20110310-324505/3-years-of-hell-in-a-Saudi-household By Ramon Tulfo….(notes by M.E. Embry: no listing for Hannah International Manpower Services or manpower legal representative with last names: Qwaiter in the website of POEA; http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agList.asp?mode=all but, found this listing on 5/12/2011: HANNAN INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER SERVICES G/F, 7434 YAKAL STREET, SAN ANTONIO VILLAGE MAKATI Official Representative : BERNARDO M.TAGUINOD Status : Good Standing License Validity : 1/13/2011 to 1/12/2015)
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Mayonview International Manpower Services in ‘Good Standing’ with POEA despite an allegation of recruiting for jobs in Kuwait while under suspension & deployment of about 60 workers who worked under deplorable condition in Maldives
http://www.malaya.com.ph/01072010/metro5.html TFAIR raids illegal recruiter in Cavite..SIXTEEN persons were rescued by the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (TFAIR) from an illegal recruitment den in Bacoor, Cavite recently…De Castro said the victims were extracted by TFAIR operatives from a house at Mary Homes Subdivision in Molino 4 after a verified tip from an informer. The house is believed to be rented by the Mayonview International Manpower Services which recruited the victims from the provinces despite the suspension of its license by the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority…De Castro said the victims paid money to Mayonview in exchange for non-existent jobs in Kuwait. He said the 16 were being kept at the Molino house so they could not complain to authorities.
recruiter for the trafficked workers in Maldives
from the family of around 60 overseas Filipino workers in the Maldives: Mrs. Grimaldo told the media that aside from the deplorable conditions endured by her husband and other Filipinos working in a construction site in the Maldives, their employer have yet to give them their five-month salary. Joseph Macapia said his brother Leonito informed him through text messages and calls that the workers had to gather rainwater to drink and bathe in the ocean. They also resorted to fishing to have something to eat aside from the porridge they eat. The poor conditions suffered by the OFWs there have resulted to seven of them already getting sick. Like the rest of the families, Rosemari Velarde also appealed to the government to help repatriate her brother Christopher…they were hired by their local employer Mayonview International Manpower Services as construction workers to Ashley Alexis Builders Corporation based in the Republic of Maldives. (Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/09/08/09/60-ofws-maldives-appeal-help by Maria Aleta Nieva-Nishimori)
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 19, 2011 4:15:56 PM MAYONVIEW INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER SERVICES
MALATE, MANILA Status : Good Standing License Validity : 7/15/2007 to 7/14/2011
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Pert/CPM Manpower Exponents Co. Inc., despite several complaints of maltreatment from many deployed workers, connivance with lending companies (West Wind, NITTAN, and PJH, RJJ Lacaba) and other complaints remains licensed in ‘Good Standing’ in the Philippines
Three of the seven overseas Filipino workers who sought help for allegedly being maltreated in Saudi Arabia arrived Monday in their home city of Bacolod. A report posted on Visayan Daily Star said the other four are due home in Manila this week. Their families paid their employer Saad Sahmi Al-Hajri and Partner Co. and facilitated their repatriation papers, exit visas, and release papers from the Jubail Court. But Simplecio Velasco and Oliver Alanza are still in Saudi Arabia and are waiting for their families to raise enough funds to pay their employer so they could leave. According to the report, De la Torre and Diosana said they are planning to file charges against their recruitment agency in Bacolod City, Pert/CPM Manpower Exponents Co. Inc. for breach of contract. The OFWs wrote to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. about their plight last May 17. In their letter, they said their drivers’ licenses were confiscated, their salaries delayed and their overtime pay denied. Also, they complained they were not issued original Iqamas, or residence permits. Diosana said they will ask the help of Jeff Esperanzate, head of the Sectoral Concerns Office, to file a labor case with the Department of Labor and Employment. Meanwhile, the plane tickets of Tan and Cadeluna were shouldered by Pert/CPM after they were made to sign quit claims, according to Diosana.(Source: http://pinoyoverseas.net/news/uncategorized/3-of-7-abused-ofws-back-in-bacolod-eye-raps-vs-recruiter/ July 15th, 2010)
The victims further stated that whenever there’s an engine trouble, the repair cost is being charged to them. They were also made to illegally take sand and gravel in a privately owned area and be brought to their site.Some of them were caught and jailed. They complained to their manager and they were told: “It’s okay. No problem. We can take you out.” But after out of jail, the daily routine still goes on. This daily experience of being frightened to be caught by the police cause major problem to our mental and physical health, the victims said….Meanwhile, the victims’ employers had filed counter-charges against them at the Dammam court for certain violations which were not yet stated…The problem right now is how to retrieve their visas and passports since these were in the possessions of their respective employers, Golez said.(Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/bacolod/kin-maltreated-ofws-seek-repatriation May 27, 2010 by Carla N. Canet & George M. dela Cruz)
More complaints filed against PERT/CPM by 189 SAPTCO Bus Drivers in Saudi
189 SAPTCO bus drivers have filed a complaint last April before the Philippine Embassy Overseas Labor Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) in Saudi against recruitment agency PERT/CPM, which they accused of conniving with lending agencies…The 189 workers also complained about the overcharging of placement fees, loans with impossible rates, collection of fees without issuance of receipts, false information on employment and compensation and the harassment of their families by the lending agencies. The Annasban workers are demanding that they be paid their back wages amounting to an average of P300,000 each, while the SAPTCO bus drivers are demanding a refund of their overcharged deployment fees amounting to at least P80,000 each, among others. (Source: http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/12587 (Noel Barcelona) August 4, 2010)
excerpt: families left by the OFWs in the Philippines: “on the 26th of each month the lending agency (West Wind, NITTAN, and PJH, RJJ Lacaba) would bring along with them persons claiming to be representatives of the police & NBI threatening them that they would be sued if they did not pay” (Source: http://thepoc.net/thepoc-features/politi-ko/politiko-features/8809-ofws-decry-recruitment-lending-agency-scheme.html 7/20/2010 by Sarah Katrina Maramag
They were deployed by PERT-CPM Manpower Exponents Co. Inc…they were charged a placement fee that is higher than what is prescribed or allowed by the Department of Labor and Employment… without issuing an official receipt… the OFWs made it clear that they don’t have any complain about their company but decry on the overcharging of placement fee by the recruitment agency that they said have connections to various lending agencies in which they were referred to get an onerous loan…the lending agencies named by the complaining OFW-drivers are West Wind, NITTAN, and PJH, RJJ Lacaba…It was known by the complaining OFWs that their employer (SAPTCO management) had paid their visa fee, processing fee, and other fees to their recruitment agency…That’s why our company’s management (SAPTCo), upon knowing that we were onerously charged with unnecessary fees and huge placement fee and high loan interest, threw their support to us…There are about 1,600 OFWs working for Saudi Arabia Public Transport Company. http://bulatlat.com/main/2010/04/05/30-ofws-complain-overcharging-by-recruiter-lending-agencies-seek-help-from-migrant-rights-group/
http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp Status of Recruitment Agencies as of May 6, 2011 10:10:55 AM: PERT/CPM MANPOWER EXPONENTS CO INC ERMITA Status : Good Standing License Validi