Lawmaker wants to slash DOLE budget over 'sex for flight' scandal

A lawmaker on Wednesday threatened to push for the reduction of the proposed 2014 budget of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) if nothing would come out of its investigation on the alleged sexual exploitation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) by labor officials.

“If DOLE does not undertake administrative actions against personnel attached to the DOLE in the Middle East then I will file a resolution cutting the budget by 25% for 2014,” said Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello during a budget hearing at the House of Representatives.

The proposed DOLE budget for 2014 is P10.5 billion, a 29-percent increase from its budget this year.

Bello told Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, who was at the hearing, that “heads must roll” in the issue where several Philippine embassy and labor officials in Kuwait and Jordan are accused of demanding sexual favors from OFWs who were seeking repatriation.

The DOLE and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have launched separate investigations on the accusations. Some envoys from the Middle East have been ordered to fly back to the Philippinesto shed light on the issue.

Baldoz, for her part, told lawmakers that she has already ordered the speeding up of the investigation.

“I already instructed the [fact-finding team] to fast-track the investigation. They are doing overtime work to finish their report until tomorrow,” she said.  — Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News

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