POEA to review verification guidelines on newly-hired household workers for KSA

By JAMIL SANTOS, GMA News The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is set to review the the Philippine Philippine Overseas Labor and Office (POLO) verification guidelines amid its temporary suspension of the processing and deployment of newly-hired household service workers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. "Ito pong kautusan (temporary suspension) na ito ay upang repasuhin 'yung ating tinatawag na verification guidelines ng POLO," said POEA Administrator Atty. Bernard Olalia at the Laging Handa public briefing. (The temporary suspension's purpose is to review the verification guidelines of the POLO). Olalia cited the case of a household service worker in the KSA, whose employer's complete name and address were not indicated under the employment contract. The household service worker (HSW) was eventually transferred to a blacklisted employer. "Na-circumvent po nila 'yung verification rules natin. Nakita natin ang gap na 'yon kaya kinakailangang i-plot natin at babaguhin po natin ang verification guidelines nang sa ganoon hindi na mauulit ang pang-aabuso ng isang employer," Olalia said. (They were able to circumvent our verification rules. We saw that gap, thus we need to plot and change our verification guidelines to prevent abuses by employers.) "Hihintayin po na magkaroon ng panibagong verification guidelines na magmumula sa POEA" (Let us wait for new verification guidelines), Olalia said, adding that the agency convening its technical working group. Department of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has issued a memorandum ordering the POLO to temporarily stop the verification of the newly-hired domestic workers. According to the report, domestic workers and skilled workers who renewed contracts were exempted from the deployment ban. —LBG, GMA News