Abusive employers to be blacklisted

Lily B. Libo-on

/ 9 October 2013

Philippines plans to train distressed Filipina housemaids in income-generating skills. Distressed home service workers (HSWs), many of whom have run away from abusive employers in the UAE, have been urged to execute affidavits detailing their experiences to be submitted to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in Manila for blacklisting their employers. In an interview with Khaleej Times, Labour Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said affidavits executed by distressed HSWs, particularly those who were raped, illtreated and worked without salaries, will be used by the POEA, to blacklist abusive employers, who keep on shifting from one recruitment agency to another to hide their violations and abuses and continue hiring maids from the Philippines. She said that the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) is implementing laws protecting overseas contract workers especially the HSWs, who are not covered by labour laws of host countries. While some Filipino maids are still waiting for the resolution of their cases at the supervision of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) in the UAE, Secretary Baldoz said that they are being encouraged to keep themselves busy by learning handicrafts, other skills, personality development and financial literacy. “By the time they go back home, they can be fully re-integrated into the community, and whatever they have learned at POLO can be used to start income-generating jobs for their family,” she said. “While you are in the UAE, we will do what we can to help you make a decision. Think about what income generating projects you can do back home, and then learn the craft while waiting for your cases to be resolved, so you can start a new life. You do not need to go back and work as maids if you have sufficient income at home with your family,” she told the maids. On August 14, Secretary Baldoz ordered a massive on-site implementation of DOLE’s “Balik Pinay Balik Hanapbuhay Project,” a major national re-integration programme for female Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)undertaken by the Philippine government. Under this programme, she said, distressed workers will be trained in certain income-generating skills while in the UAE and other host countries and will be issued a certificate. As soon as they arrive in the Philippines, it can be presented it to DOLE. For the second half of 2013, Baldoz has set aside an initial 10 million Pesos (approx Dh851,890) for the project’s on-site implementation, specifically for 777 distressed OFWs sheltered at the Filipino Workers Resource Centres in Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE; Bahrain; Kuwait; Lebanon; Syria; Libya; Qatar; Oman; and Jordan. There are 101 distressed OFWs sheltered in six FWRCs in Asia, specifically, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, Taiwan, and South Korea, who Baldoz said would also be assisted through the project. At Dubai POLO, its project partners such as Filipino Digerati Association, Angels, Lightform International Photographers Guild and others are training the HSWs on cosmetology, handicraft, massage, photography, and other income-generating ventures, which they can start doing at home in the Philippines. “If they have a certificate on cosmetology,” Secretary Baldoz said, “they can present this certificate and we will immediately provide them with a starter kit free of charge so they can start an income-generating business venture of their own and do not need to go abroad to work as domestic maids,” she said. lily@khaleejtimes.com