Sen. Manny Villar urged the Department of Labor and Employment and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration yesterday to act swiftly on the complaints of five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) against a welfare officer based in Ammam, Jordan who allegedly tried to force them to go back to their abusive employers.
Villar met the five repatriated women workers in his office and upon hearing their stories, instructed lawyer Charles Parcia to help them execute sworn affidavits against welfare officer Carmelita Mag-uyon.
He came to know about the plight of the five OFWs through radio station dzXL Tatak RMN’s Bantay OFW program as well as through the Blas F. Ople Policy Center.
“These women came to the Philippine embassy’s Bahay-Kalinga as victims of physical and verbal abuse. It is ironic that instead of providing compassionate services, they were allegedly subjected to even more verbal abuse by a welfare officer,” Villar said.
Raquel Aragon, Lolita Wadia, Noraida Guiamilil, Jhona Mortel and Genevieve Quibedo told the senator Mag-uyon allegedly shouted at them whenever they sought her attention or asked questions about their cases.
In her affidavit, Noraida claimed that when she approached the welfare officer to seek a medical examination due to a contagious illness, the latter shouted at her and said, “How can you have a medical exam when you don’t have a passport?”
Mortel said she sent a text message to Mag-uyon when she suffered physical abuse at the hands of Jordanian police and her employer while they were forcing her to ride in her employer’s car.
Fearing for her life and feeling that she could not wait for a response from Mag-uyon, Mortel texted a member of dzXL’s staff, who notified the Philippine Overseas Labor Office or POLO in Ammam, Jordan about her situation.
This did not sit well with Mag-uyon, who berated Mortel and other Filipinos being held at the police station.
Mortel also wrote in her affidavit that last May, Mag-uyon told her she could only go home if she paid her employer $5,000 to cover the cost of her deployment.
Review employee
selection process
According to Villar, these experiences of distressed workers underscore the need to review the selection process for government employees who will be assigned abroad to look after OFWs.
Majority of the complainants said the welfare officer would often advise abused women who sought refuge at Bahay-Kalinga to go back to work.
“Let’s send people to the frontlines overseas with excellent people skills and with proper training on counseling and proper welfare assistance,” Villar said, adding that the welfare officer being charged by the complainants appears to have neither the heart nor the patience for the job.
Aragon said Mag-uyon even tried to facilitate her return to an abusive employer to the point of acting as a go-between for the agency and her family in order to persuade Aragon to change her mind.
She said Mag-uyon “refused to render any assistance but instead told me to return to my employer as she feels that is what is best under the circumstances.”
According to the Blas F. Ople Center, they are expecting more OFWs from Jordan to file complaints against Mag-uyon.
Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the center, said the five women were emboldened to pursue their complaints after they were informed of their rights under the law by the senator’s legal team.
Ople said Mag-uyon should not force distressed workers who sought refuge at the Bahay-Kalinga in Ammam to go back to work or shoulder the deployment costs of their employer.
“Many of these women are victims of forced labor trafficking, and as such, their rights should have been defended,” Ople said.