Welcome Saudi ban on Filipino domestics

REPUBLIC Act 8042, also known as The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, was enacted in response to the tragedy that befell Flor Contemplacion, a housemaid in Singapore who was executed after she was found guilty of murder.

Section 2 of RA 8042 states, in part, “The existence of the overseas employment program rests solely on the assurance that the dignity and fundamental human rights and freedoms of the Filipino citizens shall not, at any time, be compromised or violated.”

That was 16 years ago.

Thereafter, the Philippine government had been shy to enforce provisions of RA 8042, particularly those that stipulate fair wages and guarantees on the safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Lately, however, Manila has begun to show uncharacteristic guts in defense of its nationals—particularly domestic workers employed in the Middle East. In recent talks with Saudi Arabia authorities, for instance, Philippine officials had negotiated for a monthly floor pay of US$400 for Filipino domestics as well as a certification of protection for the OFWs.
The Saudis were quick to dismiss those demands, which they called “restrictive.” Moreover, they imposed a ban, which took effect Saturday, on any further recruitment of Filipino domestics.

Labor recruiters, whose lucrative business depends on their ability to deploy as many OFWs as they can, immediately raised a howl. They said a quarter of a million Filipinos now in Saudi Arabia stand to lose their jobs; their current contracts would no longer be renewed.

Most Filipinos, however, received the news about the Saudi ban with no small measure of relief.
Media reports, both here and elsewhere, have shown that many foreign housemaids in Saudi Arabia are forced to work seven days a week with little food or rest. Some are locked up in cramped quarters. Others have reported physical and sexual abuse.

Their passports are routinely confiscated and kept by their employers until the expiration of their contracts, which are all too often altered to force them to work for even less money and longer hours than what they had been made to understand when they were first recruited.
Meanwhile, migrant worker organizations have slammed Philippine diplomats and other officials in Saudi Arabia for not doing enough to safeguard their compatriots from what amounts to modern-day slavery.

The Saudi ban was, in fact, widely welcomed by Filipinos grown indignant over recurrent reports about the maltreatment of their compatriots in the oil-rich kingdom.

In addition, news of the Saudi rejection of the Philippine government’s requests have reached many other countries—further reinforcing the international image of Saudi Arabia as an exploiter of workers from developing countries.

The Saudi ban also covers domestics from Indonesia, whose nationals have suffered similar indignities—perhaps worse—in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

In fact, there are even more Indonesians—about 1.5 million, according to the Jakarta Post—working as housemaids in Saudi Arabia compared to the 250,000 or so Filipino domestics there.

The Indonesians too had been negotiating with the Saudis for an agreement that would guarantee the protection of Indonesian maids in the wake of a series of high-profile cases involving the abuse of maids.

An Indonesian housemaid, Ruyati binti Satubi, was executed recently for murdering her reportedly abusive Saudi employer. Afterward, Jakarta announced it would stop deploying maids to Saudi Arabia until the Saudis sign a memorandum of understanding protecting the rights of Indonesian workers.

Late last year, Indonesia sought an investigation into reports that an Indonesian maid working in Saudi Arabia was killed by her employers and her body dumped on a roadside.

According to a report posted in the BBC News website last November, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had sent a team to the Saudi town of Abha to investigate reports of the murder of 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari.

The officials from Jakarta also looked into claims of torture committed on another Indonesian maid, Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa, in Medina. Mustapa’s injuries included gashes to her face and cuts to her lips, allegedly inflicted by her employers using scissors. She was also burned with an iron and suffered internal injuries.

The BBC reported: “Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host millions of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore to approximately 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia.

“Whether or not they are well treated is a matter of luck rather than legislation.

“Employers have huge control over them and the workers have few rights. Most have their passports taken away.
“It is hard to document their treatment as they are ‘hidden’ in [their employers’] homes, but abuse is systemic, according to Human Rights Watch.”

Added the BBC: “Traditionally, the Philippines has been a stronger advocate for its workers than the other ‘sender’ countries, but the protest by the Indonesian president is unusually high-level—especially as it occurred during the Muslim Eid celebrations.”

The BBC also noted that the “Saudi [Labor] Ministry has in the past acknowledged some problems with the treatment of domestic staff, but the government also says foreign workers’ rights are protected under Islamic law.”

In July 2009, the Saudi advisory council, called Shura, passed a bill meant to improve legal protection for the estimated 1.5 million domestic workers in the kingdom.
According to published reports, the bill had been under consideration for several years and sought to require Saudi employers to give domestic workers at least nine hours of rest every day, suitable accommodation and rest breaks.

Human rights groups noted, however, the bill contained vague provisions that would leave workers open to abuse, including the duty to obey employers’ orders and a prohibition against leaving the place of employment without a “legitimate reason.”

Nevertheless, the bill was described as “a step in the right direction.”

After its passage by the Shura Council—a consultative body whose members are handpicked by the Saudi king—the bill was slated for endorsement to the Saudi cabinet, which could make further changes before it is enacted into law by the monarch.

That was two years ago.

There has been no further word on the bill—and the maltreatment of Indonesian, Filipino and other foreign domestic workers has persisted. –DAN MARIANO, Manila Times. dansoy26@yahoo.com