Help urged for 96 distressed OFWs in Poland

MANILA, Philippines - Ninety-six distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Poland are reportedly pleading for help because of unjust working conditions.

Senator Manuel Villar on Friday said that the workers are currently “lumped together" in a glass-making company in Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland.

The OFWs, through a video phone call, told Villar that they were promised “good employment" by their agency in Manila.

But instead of the US$500 to $750 or about P24,000 to P36,000 monthly pay stipulated in their contracts, they were paid the equivalent of P12,000 to P14,000.

“Our agency back in the Philippines fooled us regarding our salary," said OFW Ronaldo Corpuz.

In addition, the workers told the senator that they paid their agency $720 or more than P34,000 for placement and P6,000 in additional fees prior to their departure last month – forcing the workers to incur debts while applying for the job.

Moreover, Corpuz said that their employer took their passports – preventing them from applying for a job in another company.

“Our loved ones are placed in double jeopardy with our absence and with no support," he said.

Aside from Corpuz, the other OFWs who complained of the same situation are James Bernal, Marlon Meer, Armel Galapon, Arnaldo Ico, Jefferson Yambao, Ryan Malabuyoc, Salvador Polistico, Abe Borlaza, Ryan Gestoso, Jaime Polintang, Basil Falcunaya, Edgar Barcol, Rodrigo Gundran, Francisco Alvaro Jr., Jonathan Estur, Bartolome Bernal, Romwel Luna, Regie Pijo, Arnel Manlunas, and Eric Padua.

Some of them were recruited from Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon, Cavite, Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Benguet, and Negros Occidental.

The senator urged Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. and Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon to promptly assist the distressed workers.

Dimzon told GMANews.TV in a phone interview that she has yet to receive any information regarding the matter. She is currently in Qatar with other labor officials.

OWWA’s Repatriation and Assistance Division, meanwhile, told GMANews.TV on Friday that they have information of only 26 Filipino workers in Poland who have the same complaints.

It added that some had already been repatriated – the cost of which was shouldered by their recruitment agency supposedly based in Cebu.

Conejos, on the other hand, was not available for comment as of posting time.

Meanwhile, Villar has also asked help for the 35 OFWs in Qatar who are reportedly not being paid by their employer.

The OFWs, who arrived in Qatar on October 7, 2008, wrote, “Since we started work, our salaries have been always partially given, until such time when we were not getting any for almost three months."

“Nagugutom na ang aming mga pamilya sa Pilipinas [Our families in the Philippines are starving]," they told the senator. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV

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