Recruiters urge Pinoys in Jeddah to oppose unified contract

KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine recruitment agencies called on the Filipino community in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to oppose the "unified contract" which will be implemented by the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom) starting September 1.

Victor Fernandez, president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (Pasei), the largest group of Philippine service exporters with 700 member organizations, said that it was important that Filipino workers know that the provisions in the “unified contract" are unfair.

The industry leader met with the Kongreso ng Kapulungan ng mga Samahang Pilipino (KASAPI) congress and Filipino communities in Jeddah.

The people present in the meeting were enraged when Fernandez explained to them the implications of the provisions in the contract to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

A part of the "unified contract" states that the deal between Saudi employers and the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) will be covered by contracts drafted by Sanarcom, overriding the approved Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) contracts which were attested by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices.

Rudy Dianalan, chairman of KASAPI, said that the implementation of the “unified contract" would just be additional burden to OFWs.

The KASAPI congress decided to make a resolution opposing the implementation of the said contract. It also said that it will start collecting signatures from OFWs which they hope can be sent back to the Philippines as soon as possible to show their opposition against the anomalous contract.

According to Peter Bermudez, one of those present in the meeting, said that it is unacceptable that the Arroyo administration is not doing anything to stop the implementation of the “unified contract" in September.

The Filipino community in Jeddah decided to draft a letter to be signed by OFWs appealing to all government agencies in the Philippines especially to the President to prevent the impending implementation of the said contract.

Red Bual, president of the Boholano community in Jeddah said that the signature campaign must be started immediately.

“Hindi makatarungan ang nilalaman nang Unified Contract at ito isang malinaw na panloloko sa mga Pinoy (The content of the “unified contract" is unjust and it is a scam to dupe Filipinos)," he added.

Fernandez stressed that they are chiding the member agencies of Sanarcom, not the agencies of the Saudi government.

Meanwhile, Danny Londonio, chairman of the Bag-ong Bicol Saro community in Jeddah, said that they will do everything in their power to spread the campaign to Filipinos in Saudi in the quickest way possible. - GMANews.TV

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