POEA: Onsite Inspection of OFW Now Mandatory
ONSITE inspection on the status of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will soon be made mandatory by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to ensure their welfare abroad.
In a phone interview, POEA administrator Bernard P. Olalia told BusinessMirror they will be coming up with the guidelines regarding the new policy so it could be implemented by recruitment agencies.
Estrelita S. Hizon, Private Sector Representative at the POEA Governing Board (GB), said in a separate phone interview the new issuance will make the existing regular monitoring procedures for Philippine recruitment agencies (PRA) and foreign recruitment agencies (FRA) much stricter.
Under the new arrangement, FRAs will now be made to visit the deployed OFWs in their respective workplaces to check on their status.
They will then transmit the report to their counterpart PRAs so it could be reported to POEA via its new online reporting system.
“The report should be based on actual knowledge on the condition of the OFWs…. Those which will not be able to submit will face suspension [of their license to operate],” Olalia said.
He explained that the joint solidary liability rule will ensure that PRAs of FRAs, which will fail to conduct on-site visits, will also face sanction from POEA.
MOA enforcement
Labor Secretary and POEA-GB Chairman Silvestre H. Bello III earlier said the measure is part of their initiative to ensure that the provision of the 2018 Philippine-Kuwait Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the protection of Filipino household service workers (HSW) will be implemented.
He said the labor attachés will verify the reports submitted by PRAs and the FRAs.
Bello issued the statement amid allegations from the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) that the decision of POEA to remove the partial deployment ban last week for Kuwait, despite the pending full compliance by the Kuwaiti government with the set conditions for its lifting, favored recruiters.
Bello earlier said the ban will only be lifted once the Kuwaiti government fully implements the 2018 MOA, and necessary charges are filed against the people behind the killing of Jeanelyn Villavende, a Filipino HSW, in December 2019.
POEA imposed the partial deployment ban last month after the reported brutal killing of Villavende in Kuwait.
In a statement, TUCP President Raymond Mendoza questioned POEA’s decision, claiming there are still “contentious items” in Philippine talks with the Kuwaiti officials with regard to the protection of OFWs in Kuwait. Among these is Kuwait’s demand that Manila stop operating half-way homes for “runaway” OFWs.
He also said justice has yet to be secured for Villavende even if Bello said that “appropriate” charges were already filed against her suspected killers.
Premature lifting
On Thursday, a video of Bello announcing before recruitment representatives the POEA-GB resolution lifting the ban sparked criticism from migrant advocates, including Mendoza.
“Bello [announcing] the lifting of the ban in his meeting with local recruitment agencies leaves a bad taste in our mouths. This is a disservice to our President’s advocacy for OFW rights and welfare. It is glaring in so many instances that the DOLE/POEA places the business interest of recruiters first while the welfare of HSWs an afterthought,” Mendoza said in a statement.
Bello denied the allegations of Mendoza. He said stating the POEA GB decision was based on their consultations with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and their assessment of the Kuwaiti government’s compliance with their set conditions.
Mendoza, who is also the concurrent representative of the TUCP party-list in Congress and the chairman of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, said he will ask the POEA GB to explain its side on the matter.
“The committee will summon Bello and the POEA officials and members of the board this week,” Mendoza said.
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph