RP manpower agencies told to repatriate distressed Pinoys - report
06/09/2008 | 01:10 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us MANILA, Philippines - The prospect of having their licenses suspended or revoked has prompted Filipino manpower agencies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to facilitate the repatriation of distressed Filipino workers.

Online news site Khaleej Times reported Monday the manpower agencies had been swift in acting lest the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) act against them.

It said the POEA suspended the licenses of 11 agencies and canceled those of three other firms last year, four of which were involved in bringing domestic helpers to the UAE.

The POEA said the penalized agencies had been involved in offenses such as contract substitution and fake employment visas.

It acted upon the recommendation of labor attaché Virginia Calvez, head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Dubai, and by labor attaché Nasser Munder, head of POLO at the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Failure to assist the troubled workers deployed by manpower agencies can also be a ground for suspension of license of erring manpower agencies under the Philippine labor law.

Contract substitution violates Part 6, Rule 1, Section 2e of the 2002 POEA Rules and Regulations. The passage of the new Reform Package Affecting Household Service Workers has also given more teeth to the Philippine Labor Law.

Welfare Officer Marilyn Vail said the repatriation of domestic helpers in distress has become almost a daily scenario at the POLO-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) refuge center in Dubai.

She said the UAE-based associates of Filipino manpower agencies had also financially assisted in repatriating distressed workers.

Currently, only 50 troubled domestic workers are under the custody of POLO-OWWA, 10 of whom are on visit visas.

This figure is a big improvement over the recorded runaways in the past two years.

Earlier, statistics released by POLO-OWWA in Dubai showed a total of 12,923 in 2006, and it tapered off to 9,444 in 2007.

"During the first quarter of this year, 139 workers were repatriated, more than three-fourths of whom were documented workers," Vail added.

In the past, repatriation of distressed domestic workers was too slow because, in some cases, the employers refused to provide air tickets.

In several cases, the manpower agencies that had deployed workers in the UAE had not acted immediately. - GMANews.TV

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