POEA blacklists Saudi job agency after Filipina was abused by employer

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has blacklisted a Saudi recruitment agency after a Filipino woman it hired for household work suffered abuse in the hands of her employer.

The POEA has already banned Snood Manpower Employment Office from hiring overseas Filipino workers (OFW) after one of its Filipinos employees, Melody Polintang-De Jesus, was abused by her employer in Jeddah.

According to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, De Jesus suffered physical injuries inflicted by her employer, did not receive the right compensation provided in her employment contract, and was deployed in harsh working conditions.

De Jesus also suffered burns from a flat iron pressed on her by her female employer, Baldoz said, citing reports from Philippine Overseas Labor Office-Jeddah Assistant Labor Attache Oliva Macawili.

“These are clear violations of the provisions of the Standard Employment Contract entered into by the employer and the employee,” Baldoz said.

The use of these SECs, as well as its provisions, was agreed upon by the governments of the Philippines and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a historic event heralding an era of stronger bilateral cooperation between the two countries for better protection and welfare of the Filipino Household Service Workers (HSW).

The SEC contains 19 articles that spell out clear and specific provisions on the employment of the Filipino HSWs.

“We will not tolerate these kinds of abuses, especially, if we are able to prove that the PRA has neglected its responsibilities of tending the needs of the OFWs they deployed abroad. We will deal them the full force of the law,” Baldoz said.

Macawili said De Jesus was deployed by the Mayon International Trading Corporation and Saudi Recruitment Agency (SRA) Snood Manpower Employment Office in July 2013 to work as a domestic helper under the sponsorship of Fawas Abdulrahman Abdulsalam Sultan.

POEA chief Hans Cacdac said Mayon International Trading Corporation has already been placed under preventive suspension, and Snood Manpower Employment Office blacklisted. The employer, on the other hand, is now facing criminal charges in a Saudi prosecutor’s office.

Baldoz reminded licensed Philippine Recruitment Agencies (PRAs) to exercise utmost responsibility in ensuring that the rights and welfare of all OFWs they send to a foreign country are respected and well-taken care of.

She also warned them and their foreign counterparts or principals that the government would not take lightly and would act swiftly on cases of abuse and violation of rights in coordination with and in accordance with the laws of host governments.