No concrete Palace plan for ‘Saudization’ victims

The estimated 150,000 overseas domestic workers who are in danger of losing their jobs in Saudi Arabia should not expect any immediate help from the Aquino administration as Malacañang yesterday failed to offer any concrete alternative reemployment plan for them.

All that deputy presidential spokesman Abegail Valte could offer was a wild guess that somehow, other countries would be willing to absorb overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) facing displacement by the “Saudization” policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

But if not, Valte surmised that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) can provide them with livelihood through the so-called “Balik-Pinay!Balik-Hanapbuhay!” project which is basically a livelihood assistance and training program that is not guaranteed to provide a quick solution to the problem besetting the beleaguered OFWs.

This project for returning OFWs is basically a training and assistance for food processing, garments, beauty shops or computer shops.

Just in case we will not have any agreement with the Saudi government, I’m pretty confident that there are alternative markets that will absorb them,” Valte said without offering specific details as to which country would absorb them, when would they get possible re-employment and what

what the government is doing to actualize the re-employment program.

Valte’s statement came after Saudi authorities announced that they will begin implementing their Saudization policy, which prioritizes hiring of local workers instead of foreign laborers. Aside from the Philippines, Indonesia, which also sends domestic workers to Saudi Arabia, is also affected by the policy.

The policy stemmed from the Saudi government’s refusal to agree on hiring conditions— laid down by the Philippines and other countries that exports labor to the oil-rich nation— that seeks better worker protection and ensure worker safety. Valte, however, noted that these demands were based on labor laws.

Malacanang said the Philippines will seek a clarification from Saudi Arabia about the new policy. Valte said that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) wanted to clarify whether the policy only affects new applicants and not those who are rehires and those already working in that country.

Some 1.3 million Filipinos work in Saudi Arabia, a major market for the nine million-strong overseas-based Filipino workforce. According to a Filipino workers organization based in Saudi Arabia, between 120,000 and 150,000 are employed as domestic workers in the kingdom.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization that assists distressed overseas workers, meanwhile, called on the government to speak with one voice in addressing Saudi Arabia’s ban on the hiring of Filipino household workers.

“We cannot afford to send mixed signals or come up with a vague response because the jobs of millions of Filipino workers could be on the line,” Susan Ople, the head of the BFO Center said.

The former labor undersecretary said that the firm position of the Department of Labor and Employment not to agree on the lowering of the prescribed US$400 minimum wage for overseas household workers led to Saudi’s decision to stop hiring Filipino kasambahays. The policy center said it is important to know whether the DoLE position will be backed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippines as a whole.

“The Saudi government is actually doing us a favor because it is forcing the Philippine government to formulate a unified position on the issue of overseas domestic workers and why our women continue to leave despite constant reports of abuse and rapes involving household workers in the Middle East,” Ople stressed.

The daughter of the late labor and foreign affairs secretary Blas F. Ople recalled that this was not the first time that the Philippines and Saudi Arabia reached an impasse over the rights and welfare of Filipino household workers. The very first time such an impasse took place was during the early years of President Corazon C. Aquino.

“What is sad is that we never had the political will to put up specific programs to alleviate the burden on women workers who have since left and continue to leave the country to serve even in the most abusive households across the seas. We rant whenever they are abused but other than that, there is really very little in the horizon for low-skilled women in terms of local jobs and sustainable incomes,” Ople explained.

The Ople Center, however, agreed that both parties must maintain an open line of communications because the bilateral ties between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia go a long way back. Filipino workers worked in the kingdom as far back as the 70’s and 80’s when Saudi Arabia needed foreign workers to sustain its economic boom. “The message should be clear — Saudi Arabia is a good friend of the Philippines and a hospitable host to many of our workers particularly those valued for their skills and experience.”

“The Philippines needs to walk the diplomatic tightrope in asserting the human rights of our household workers without affecting hundreds and thousands of Filipino success stories that abound in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the president of the Ople Center said.

The OFW advocate noted that the $400 wage level is often violated by Arab and other foreign employers making it hard for the Philippines to enforce it overseas.

She also called on the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to monitor cases of household service workers who are not being allowed to come home by their Saudi employers though their work contracts and residency permits have expired.

“Human trafficking is a major concern. Because of the Saudi ban, some employers may try to hold on to their Filipino maids even when their contracts have expired because it would now be more difficult to get a replacement from the Philippines and even Indonesia,” Ople added. The Saudi government has likewise ordered the suspension in the hiring of domestic workers from Indonesia.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center believes that the entire government machinery must be mobilized in crafting and delivering livelihood and other forms of assistance to Filipino households to be affected by the Saudi ban. –Virgilio J. Bugaoisan, Daily Tribune