POEA awakes after ‘OFW’s nightmare’

Reacting to a first-hand account in the Inquirer, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on Friday said it would move to cut queues in its main office and to ease the inconveniences suffered by overseas Filipino workers.

POEA Administrator Carlos Cao said in a letter that he had assumed direct supervision over the agency’s Name/Direct Hire Division on July 7 “to better ensure efficient service delivery and to more quickly address OFWs’ complaints.”

Cao’s move was in response to Stella O. Gonzales’ report on her ordeal in applying for an exit clearance, which was published on the same day in the Inquirer.

Gonzales, a former chief of Inquirer News Service who was directly hired by the Financial Times Ltd. in the United Kingdom, was processed by the POEA on April 12. Her report described her experience in the exit clearance application as “an OFW’s nightmare.”

She recounted the long queues, her being asked only one question—if her employer would send her remains home if she died at work, the medical checkup she underwent and the product endorsements made during the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS), which, she said, started late and ended late.

She recalled being doubly vexed when the exit clearance she obtained at the end of her days-long ordeal—“just a receipt actually of payment of one’s POEA, Owwa (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) and PhilHealth fees”—was not even inspected by the immigration officer at the airport when she flew to London last month.

But Cao said the exit clearance should have been inspected by immigration agents in compliance with immigration, labor and anti-human trafficking laws.

“All workers leaving the country are mandated to be properly documented by the government to ensure their protection,” he said.

Binay: Simplify processes

Vice President Jejomar Binay, concurrent adviser of President Benigno Aquino III on OFWs’ concerns, said the POEA and all government agencies dealing with OFWs should “immediately find ways” to simplify their procedures.

“Government should not be a burden to our OFWs,” Binay said. “We should exert all effort to assist them and make their interaction with government offices simple, convenient and pleasant. Our countrymen who are toiling to help our country progress should not be burdened.”

The Vice President said OFWs’ comments on the delivery of government services should be taken “seriously.”

He said he was thankful to Gonzales and others who were taking the time to comment on how the government could improve its performance.

“I trust that Administrator Cao shares my sentiments that the government should work for the welfare of all OFWs, and this entails facilitating their papers speedily and without hassle,” he said.

More staff posted

The POEA main office in Mandaluyong City is daily serving 3,000 to 5,000 clients, of whom about 600 are handled by the Name/Direct Hire Division, Cao said in his letter.

He said the division had “limited staff.”

“To shorten the processing period and to make the system efficient and responsive, additional staff will be posted at the Name/Direct Hire Division effective immediately. This will pave the way for the opening of more windows that provide services to our OFWs.  As a result, the POEA will now do away with the issuance of queuing numbers to OFWs,” he said.

Cao said the entire process for direct hires with complete documents covered only two-and-a-half hours. (Gonzales said she spent only two hours in her final queue after presenting her contract, medical checkup results and the document showing she had undergone the PDOS.)

He said the entire procedure and the time period itself were even certified by the International Standards Organization in 2008.

“The perceived long process can be attributed to the various stages of processing such as the required [PDOS] that is depended on orientation schedules by regional groupings, the medical examination by the Department of Health-accredited clinics chosen by the workers themselves, and the compliance to standard provision of the employment contract,” he said.

Mandatory repatriation

According to Cao, many contracts submitted for processing do not include the provision on the employer’s repatriation of workers’ remains, which is now mandatory under Republic Act No. 10022.

The law was enacted in March 2009 but its implementing rules and regulations came into force only in July 2010.

Cao said he was planning to make the PDOS available electronically to professionals planning to work abroad.

Likewise, he said he was planning online registration for professionals because they had “the capacity to better protect themselves.”

Cao added that the POEA’s first-floor lobby would be fully air-conditioned for the first time in order to make the transacting public more comfortable.

Most-read piece

Gonzales’ report was the most-read article on Inquirer.net on July 7, eliciting strong reactions from readers, mostly OFWs themselves.

As of 1 p.m. yesterday, the link to the report had elicited close to 200 comments. The link has also been shared more than 2,000 times on Facebook and Twitter, blogs and e-mail.

“I’m glad somebody came out and wrote about this sad experience by OFW with POEA. I hope our government would do something about it and [give] some dignity and care to our OFW,” said user Joey.

Another user, RogerOndat, expressed his gratitude: “Thank you very much for bringing to light this pathetic situation. If more people talked about the sad state of affairs at the POEA, then perhaps the people at that office would be shamed enough to clean up their act.”

“OFWs should not be treated this way. Aren’t OFWs sometimes referred to as heroes? Is this the way heroes are treated?” he said.

Quick buck

Gonzales’ report moved many others to vent their anger.

Said one Mr. Tawanan: “Only in the Philippines can something so simple be made very complicated, just so some people can make a quick buck.”

For user Ayt, writing in Filipino, the issue is much bigger: “It’s okay to deal with a complicated process as long as they treat us OFWs as human beings.”

But Gonzales’ experience does not only happen to OFWs, said user Kiko: “What you experienced is not new. Everyone who deals with a government agency like that is bound to be frustrated.”

Wrote ayoko_na_sa_pin: “It’s the same manure pile you encounter whether you’re going for a driver’s license, registering your property after purchase, renewing your car registration, getting a copy of your birth certificate, starting a business etc. ad infinitum.

“We’re in a hopelessly corrupt country, that’s all.” With a report from Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research