House probe to continue despite deferment of new Saudi hiring policy

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Wednesday said the House of Representatives will continue with its investigation on the possible effect on the Philippine economy of Saudi Arabia’s “unified contract" policy, even though the implementation of the scheme has been deferred by the Saudi Embassy.

Valenzuela City Rep. Rex Gatchalian said the announcement of Saudi Ambassador Mohammed Ameen Wali that the kingdom has decided to postpone the implementation of the scheme was only for a limited time.

“It’s a temporary deferment of implementation, so the (House) investigation should proceed so that if it comes back again our response policies will be ready to address the matter," he told reporters in a text message.

Gatchalian last week filed House Resolution 751, which directs the House committee on overseas workers affairs to conduct a probe, aimed at proposing legislative measures to prevent abuses on the rights and privileges of OFWs.

The measure will also check the possible adverse impact" on OFWs of the scheme, which was supposed to take effect on Sept. 1.

Philippine manpower agencies have warned that the new policy would place the local overseas employment industry under the control of the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom), a group of private recruitment agencies in Saudi Arabia.

Gatchalian said Saudi’ Arabia’s new hiring policy has to be reviewed and rejected for being “onerous on the rights and privileges of our migrant workers." At present, the Saudi government employs around one million OFWs.

Under the scheme, Sanarco will act as a middleman, in effect creating a brokering system of passing through a Saudi recruitment agency for contracts and visas for migrant workers, the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (Pasei) has warned.

Gatchalian, who belongs to the administration coalition, said that under the scheme, OFWs are constrained to “reject work or run away from it with no justified reason, to the detriment of our unknowing, hapless workers."

Gatchalian warned that “the resultant effect of the scheme will only impose an additional burden in the already tortuous recruitment process and recruitment costs for our migrant workers."

A similar policy was almost made by Saudi Arabia in 2003, but “strong oppositions from the Philippine government and affected stakeholders suspended its imposition."

He noted that pertinent provisions in the scheme are deemed “onerous" since it “essentially allows the substitution of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) Standard Contract of the workers to a Sanarcom-approved work contract." “

This creates wider latitude to impose unreasonable requirements on salaries and work conditions at the actual situation in Saudi Arabia," Gatchalian added.

“There is a need to thoroughly review all the other provisions included in the new hiring policy, in order that we shall be appraised of the whole context of this unified scheme to formulate the basis for our legislative proposal, policy or guideline or its ultimate rejection, if found as outrightly inimical to the interests of our OFWs," he said. - GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more