Agencies to stop sending OFWs to Saudi Arabia

[nesotos]

Agencies to stop sending OFWs to Saudi Arabia

08/10/2008 | 11:04 AM
GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - Deployment of Filipino contract workers to Saudi Arabia is expected to drop next month as hundreds of licensed recruitment agencies vowed to stop recruiting workers for the country unless the "unified contract" is postponed or abolished by the Ministry of Interior of Saudi Arabia.

This was the threat made by Victor Fernandez, president of The Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc (PASEI), as he urged his 750-strong members to refrain from signing the unified contract with members of the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom).

Fernandez said under the new scheme, PASEI will no longer be able to deal directly with their employers in Saudi Arabia but through a Saudi recruitment agency that is a member of Sanarcom.

Fernandez said the new contract is “anomalous and totally unfair" to the Filipino workers since they will not be given the opportunity to seek the help of the Philippine labor representative and disallows the services of mediators or any parties in settling disputes or disagreements of Filipino workers with their employers.

Lito Soriano, renowned recruitment consultant of the industry, and Ezekiel Alunen, former member of the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Emploment Agencies (POEA), both agreed that the agreement will allow Arab-owned local recruitment agencies to grab the Saudi labor market with their ties to Sanarcom.

Soriano and Alunen said many local agencies have partnered with Arab nationalities through marriages or as business partners but most of these agencies are mere "dummies"

Soriano, an agency owner deploying mostly nurses to Saudi Arabian military hospitals, said the scheme only puts another layer into the recruitment process that will only add to the recruitment cost of the local agency or the Saudi employer.

He said the workers will eventually have to bear the additional costs involved in the services of the Sanarcom agency.

Fernandez said the entire recruitment industry composed of associations like PASEI, FAME (Federated Association of Manpower Exporters), ASPRO (agencies dealing with professionals), OPAP (Overseas Placement Association of the Philippines) and other industry associations are united in opposing this new imposition being pushed by the Sanarcom through the Council of Saudi Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the approval of the Ministry of Interior.

Industry associations rejected the new arrangement, with most of them threatening to leave the Saudi labor market and concentrate their deployment will other oil-rich Middle East countries if the Saudi embassy persists in implementing the said unified contract.

DOLE has disclosed that there are 400,000 job vacancies abroad and locally. The POEA has pending job orders for 150,000 skilled workers in the Middle East that have not been filled up by local agencies. The current fill-up ratio of agencies is only 40 percent for their job orders due the lack of skilled workers and insufficient training programs.

Soriano said most of the former Saudi OFWs are experiencing a “Saudi employment fatigue" and are slowly moving to other labor markets in the Middle East like Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, which are experiencing a construction boom and are offering higher salaries and better benefits to their workers. - GMANews.TV

[nesotos]

Recruiters to RP govt: Help us fight KSA's unified contract scheme

08/15/2008 | 09:00 PM
GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - Is the battle against Saudi Arabia’s unified contract scheme a lonely fight for Filipino recruiters?

This was the question of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc (PASEI) on Friday after noting the “deafening silence" of the Philippine government regarding the re-implementation of the Recruitment and Manpower Deployment Contract on September 1.

Philippine recruitment agencies deal directly with employers but under the unified contract scheme, the agencies will have to pass through a Saudi recruitment agency that is a member of the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom).

It remains unclear whether the scheme has already been implemented by the Saudi government. In the July 18, 2008 letter from the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, accredited agencies were informed that the scheme would take effect on August 1, 2008.

The group is appealing to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Office of Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), the Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) “to come to the defense of the Filipino overseas contract workers (OCWs) whose right, interest and welfare will be put at risk" by the new labor scheme.

According to PASEI, nothing clear came out of the meeting with recruitment agencies and government officials last July 28.

“The letter supposed to be drafted by the POEA conveying to the DFA the strong sense and unanimous objections of the industry stakeholders regarding the implementation of the "Unified Contract" has yet to reach PASEI," the group said in a statement.

But lawyer Alberto Abalayan, director of Recruitment and Regulation of the POEA told GMANews.TV that they have already forwarded their recommendations to the office of administrator.

“We are hoping for the action from the higher echelons," said Abalayan in a phone interview on Friday.

Abalayan, who referred to the unified contract scheme as anti-OFW, also fears that if the situation between Filipino recruiters and the Saudi government remains unresolved, there would be a stalemate in labor deployment.

“It might temporarily suspend deployment but let’s see how the private (recruitment) sector acts on it," he said.

Abalayan said the scheme was junked in 2002 after it met stiff opposition from various Philippine groups from the recruitment industry. The policy then was only meant for Filipino and other foreign household workers. In the new scheme, all Saudi Embassy-accredited recruitment agencies will be covered by the recruitment policy.

The POEA director also hinted that only a bilateral agreement would put a cap on the issue.
Esteban Conejos Jr, DFA undersecretary for migrant workers affairs, said their hands are tied on the issue since “it is a DoLE matter."

“At this point, this is a labor issue and not yet in the jurisdiction of the DFA," Conejos said.

But Ablayan said the DFA is aware of the situation and could help in voicing out the concerns of the OFWs in the Middle East.

“It is the DFA that called our attention to this matter," Ablayan said.

Philippine recruiters have raised fears that they and their recruits will pay additional fees if the scheme takes effect. They claim Sanarcom will act as a "middle man" in the processing of visas for OFWs.

PASEI also said the new labor scheme will lead to the cartelization of overseas employment as well as spawn the practice of contract substitution.

According to the latest Philippine statistics, Saudi Arabia employs more than one million skilled and unskilled Filipino workers making it the top destination for OFWs. - with reports from Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

[alx]

So ano ba ang magiging implikasyon nito? The agencies have a point pero syempre kelangan may safeguard din tayo. madami ding third world countries na umaasang makapasok sa saudi,

[nesotos]

Recruiters urge Pinoys in Jeddah to oppose unified contract

KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMANews.TV
08/21/2008 | 06:50 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine recruitment agencies called on the Filipino community in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to oppose the "unified contract" which will be implemented by the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom) starting September 1.

Victor Fernandez, president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (Pasei), the largest group of Philippine service exporters with 700 member organizations, said that it was important that Filipino workers know that the provisions in the “unified contract" are unfair.

The industry leader met with the Kongreso ng Kapulungan ng mga Samahang Pilipino (KASAPI) congress and Filipino communities in Jeddah.

The people present in the meeting were enraged when Fernandez explained to them the implications of the provisions in the contract to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

A part of the "unified contract" states that the deal between Saudi employers and the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) will be covered by contracts drafted by Sanarcom, overriding the approved Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) contracts which were attested by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices.

Rudy Dianalan, chairman of KASAPI, said that the implementation of the “unified contract" would just be additional burden to OFWs.

The KASAPI congress decided to make a resolution opposing the implementation of the said contract. It also said that it will start collecting signatures from OFWs which they hope can be sent back to the Philippines as soon as possible to show their opposition against the anomalous contract.

According to Peter Bermudez, one of those present in the meeting, said that it is unacceptable that the Arroyo administration is not doing anything to stop the implementation of the “unified contract" in September.

The Filipino community in Jeddah decided to draft a letter to be signed by OFWs appealing to all government agencies in the Philippines especially to the President to prevent the impending implementation of the said contract.

Red Bual, president of the Boholano community in Jeddah said that the signature campaign must be started immediately.

“Hindi makatarungan ang nilalaman nang Unified Contract at ito isang malinaw na panloloko sa mga Pinoy (The content of the “unified contract" is unjust and it is a scam to dupe Filipinos)," he added.

Fernandez stressed that they are chiding the member agencies of Sanarcom, not the agencies of the Saudi government.

Meanwhile, Danny Londonio, chairman of the Bag-ong Bicol Saro community in Jeddah, said that they will do everything in their power to spread the campaign to Filipinos in Saudi in the quickest way possible. - GMANews.TV

[nesotos]

POEA welcomes deferment of Saudi ‘unified contract’ scheme

09/03/2008 | 05:32 PM
GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines – An official from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), welcomed the deferment of the unified contract scheme in Saudi Arabia following strong opposition from militant groups and recruitment agencies.

Lawyer Alberto Abalayan, POEA director of Recruitment and Regulation told GMANews.TV on Wednesday that the Saudi government’s move was a good development for more than a million OFWs in the oil-rich kingdom.

“It signifies that the Saudi Arabian government is open to discuss the matter of foreign labor," Abalayan said.

According to him, POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz also recommended the suspension of the unified contract’s implementation. Migrant groups earlier accused Philippine government agencies of not being aggressive in opposing the proposed labor scheme.

“I don’t think ‘aggressive’ should be the term to use here," Abalayan said. “There are certain matters that should be pursued diplomatically."

Despite the deferment, Abalayan said that OFWs would still have to wait in October, when the Philippines and Saudi Arabia meet in Manila to finally put a lid on the issue.

“A final decision on the unified contract scheme would only be reached when representatives from the Philippines and Saudi Arabia meet for a joint commission in Manila next month," he said.

Last July, Saudi Arabian Ambassador Mohammed Ameen Wali notified the POEA that effective Sept. 1, 2008, the embassy will entertain visa requests only to recruits of Philippine placement agencies who have tie-ups with a member of the Saudi National Recruitment Commission (Sanarcom).

Philippine recruiters have raised fears that they and their recruits will pay additional fees if the scheme takes effect. They claim Sanarcom will only act as a "middle man" in the processing of visas for OFWs. - Mark Ubalde, GMANews.TV

[fraden myer]

I pray that Filipinos in Saudi Arabia will have better working condition/s. I hope those who are in the Philippine Embassy there will really, really work hard in helping out our poor 'kababayans'. Being in Saudi is not easy. For someone whose family is away from him/her, the more it becomes difficult and unbearable. Unless, you have a lot of friends in the Filipino community. But, at times, even our own 'kababayans' become our worst nightmare. Crab mentality is still very evident.