After their travails in Kuwait, our overseas Filipino workers are still crying out for help. This time it’s a female domestic in Saudi Arabia. Jane (not her real name) complained to her recruiter and to the Philippine Embassy that the son of her employer’s relative attempted to rape her.
Not only was she forced to work for her employer’s other relatives for long hours but they also maltreated her. The unidentified intruder, “Jane” said, came to her room one night and tried to force himself on her. The rape attempt was only thwarted when she ran, locked herself in a bathroom and started shouting for help.
As with such cases a familiar refrain comes to the fore. The Filipina complainant was the one accused of robbery when she reported it to the police. It is incumbent for the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh or the Consulate in the area where the alleged crime of either rape or robbery was committed to give her immediate legal assistance.
In Kuwait, Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa was expelled by the Gulf State government for rescuing Filipino workers from the residences of their abusive employers. Kuwait considered the Philippine embassy action as an infringement of their sovereignty. So let me raise this question: Is the abuse of our workers not a violation of their human rights? Ambassador Villa has been given a one-week deadline to pack up and leave. Kuwait, obviously to preempt the Philippine government’s retaliation, also recalled its envoy in Manila for “consultations.”
I’m not telling our Department of Foreign Affairs how to do its work. But even if Kuwait recalled its ambassador, Manila nonetheless can declare him “persona non grata” so that he can no longer return to his post. The bilateral relation between Kuwait and the Philippines has come to a head and apparently reached a point of no return. But who needs Kuwait? We have diversified our foreign relations; the Philippines can source its oil from other countries and place our workers in other more civilized nations.
Kuwait was invaded and occupied by Iraq. It was only the intervention of the United States and coalition forces that liberated the oil-rich Gulf country. Kuwait at present is having a diplomatic dispute with Qatar which claims it is being harassed by the Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates states of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Qatar Air has been banned from flying into Saudi, UAE and Kuwait airspace. Despite the air embargo, Qatar is doing well without reciprocal ties with the three other Gulf countries.
The Philippine government, on the other hand, must address the problem of our people going to other countries particularly in the Middle East where our women are subjected to abuse. But why do our people brave the hostile working conditions in such places? The answer is simple enough. There are not enough jobs here, and those available, pay slavery wages with the onerous “endo” or end-of-contract clause. After five months, contractual workers can be replaced without separation pay. This has been going on for years. This practice has thrived because of the complicity of the hiring agencies, business establishments and our government. Why?
Workers know the reason. It’s only our government officials who seems to not want to see why. The working masses are not stupid even if they are poor. They know that politicians, especially during the campaign season, source their funds from the business establishments. End contractualization and the funneling of campaigns will also end.
It’s the midterm elections next year and the story will not be any different. Politicians know which side of their bread is buttered and who are buttering them.
It’s Labor Day on Tuesday, May 1. The end of contractualization gift that workers have been waiting for is not going to happen. President Rodrigo Duterte passed the buck to Congress to enact legislation that would, he claims, give workers security of tenure.
But why leave it to Congress when the President could have done it with the stroke of his pen? Just asking.
This early, voters in the working sector should strike out candidates who are protecting employers and perpetuating “endo.”
The working masses are beginning to wonder. Who are the bigger people trafficker—the labor recruiters/placement agencies or the government? Someone suggested better coordination between the Department of Labor and Department of Foreign Affairs. Philippine embassies and consulates only get to know about our workers’ plight when an untoward incident like physical abuse, rape and long hours of servitude happen to them. Our foreign missions must be informed of their arrival, their addresses and the profile of their employers. Too often, local recruitment agencies place our workers to the same abusive employers who already have a bad track record.
The passports of our workers must not be allowed to be in the possession of their employers who use them to have control of the OFWs’ movement. If accosted by police, our OFWs are in a vulnerable situation, accused of being an undocumented foreigner and thus illegally working.
