The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Riza Lozada
The government is standing firm on its “mandate” to implement policies and rules aimed at ensuring better protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said recently.
In a dialog with leaders of various labor recruitment firms and employment groups, Baldoz and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac discussed concerns over the the government’s implementation of stricter rules on employment firms amid complaints of widespread illegal recruitment.
Also discussed but left unresolved were the cases of 230 recruitment agencies whose licenses had been cancelled by the government for one reason or another; the main issue here was how to compensate the OFWs of the fees that they had paid.
Baldoz later said they agreed that overseas employment stakeholders should hold “a constant tripartite dialogue to pursue the continuing protection of OFWs.”
Many recruitment agencies have sought the removal of Baldoz and Cacdac as a result of their implementation of stricter government policies on recruitment, including the issuance of preventive suspension orders, cancellations of licenses and tighter rules on the renewal of licenses, all of which the protesters described as arbitrary.
Baldoz sought the dialogue to allow her to be “personally apprised” of the issues being hurled against her Cacdac.
Baldoz said the POEA was mandated by law to implement policies and rules aimed at ensuring the protection of OFWs. She reiterated her adherence to the state policy of implementing various reforms, specifically in the deployment of housemaids or household service workers (HSWs).
She said that apart from complaints raised, she also received feedbacks and recommendations to address labor concerns.
“Participants came out of the meeting-dialogue with specific recommendations that both parties agreed will address those concerns,” Baldoz said.
Baldoz, however, failed to make an account of the reimbursements that the affected workers were entitled under the existing labor laws.
The DOLE also did not provide updated reports on the status of affected or stranded workers resulting from the increased number of cancelled licenses of the recruitment agencies. Baldoz also discussed the standards of protection that should be afforded to OFWs, specifically HSWs, throughout the migration process.
She said there was a need to establish benchmarks and protocols on the recruitment of workers, accreditation of foreign principals and employers, proper conduct of medical examinations, and training of domestic workers in cooperation with Department of Health and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), as well as welfare assistance and monitoring of domestic workers.
On the alleged absence of due process in the issuance of orders of preventive suspension and cancellation of licenses, Cacdac said all cases were subjected to formal hearings and that the POEA always observes due process.
The agreement was to give agencies enough time to be heard, to refute allegations and present evidence. “The POEA should conduct hearings fast,” Baldoz said, recalling that during her time as POEA administrator, agencies were allowed to undergo processing of their workers through a pipeline, but this has been done away with in Republic Act 10022.
On the issue of whether the POEA requires the execution of an undertaking by licensed recruitment agencies renewing their licenses to gradually reduce the ratio of deployment of workers to “60 percent skilled,” Baldoz said there was no such requirement.
“There is even no ban on the deployment of HSWs, although I am tempted to do an Indonesia on this,” she said, referring to the ban on the deployment of HSWs being implemented by Indonesian President Widodo.
“There is not even a deliberate attempt to decrease deployment. What we have is a highly selective deployment policy for HSWs which our Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) strictly implement,” she said.
This means evaluating very thoroughly the job orders for HSWs and approving only those for compliant foreign placement agencies (FPAs), compliant licensed Philippines recruitment agencies (PRAs), and compliant employers, she said.
“This is in pursuit of President Aquino’s directive to transform Philippine embassies, consulates, POLOs, and all other stakeholders in the overseas recruitment sector into becoming centers of care and excellence,” she said.
“Further on the alleged delay in the renewal of licenses, the participants in the dialogue agreed that if the main office of a PRA is deemed compliant, all it has to do is communicate this to its branches in the region so that the DOLE or POEA regional offices need only to validate the compliance, particularly since branches of licensed recruitment agencies don’t have systems or processes different from their principal offices’.
“This is what we have done in the banking sector,” Baldoz said, and directed Cacdac to see to it that this is implemented.