DAMMAM/RIYADH: The Philippine government will not impose a ban on employers in the Kingdom hiring Filipino household service workers, such as housemaids and drivers. Instead of the ban, and as a step to ease the impasse surrounding the hiring of Filipino housemaids, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), through the Philippine diplomatic mission in the Kingdom, will be seeking more comprehensive information on the laws and regulations regarding Saudi Arabia's commitment to protecting the rights of foreign workers, including Filipino workers. POEA is also invoking the Kingdom's pledge in honoring its international commitment in the treatment and protection of foreign migrant workers. “With the ban (of housemaids) out of the question, the firm commitment of the Kingdom in protecting the welfare of household service workers is being sought in order to solve the impasse regarding the resumption of the deployment of Filipino housemaids,” Philippine labor officials said. The recruitment of Filipino housemaids has remained suspended due to a number of reasons, including lack of agreement on salaries, disagreement on the requirements imposed on employers before they can hire Filipino housemaids, and still unclear labor reforms being promised by the Saudi Ministry of Labor. Preliminary discussions on labor policy reform programs to be implemented by the Kingdom were held during the visit of Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay to Riyadh in April this year and the meeting between Saudi Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih and Philippine Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz during the recently concluded 100th International Labor Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva. During the meeting, Fakeih cited labor reform programs the Kingdom will initiate in respect to foreign workers. These are the establishment of mega companies that will hire and serve as sponsors and co-employers of workers, application of broad-range insurance systems for overseas Filipino workers, support in the remittance of Filipino workers' earnings, and expansion of e-government facilities, including the setting up of 24/7 hotlines to receive complaints from foreign workers. In seeking clarification of the definite and substantive Saudi labor reforms, the Philippine government is invoking the provision of the Migrant Workers Act of 1995 (Republic Act 8042 as amended by Republic Act 10022) which says that “the deployment of Filipino workers shall be allowed to foreign countries that provide guarantees for the protection of the rights of Filipino workers and which take concrete and positive measures to implement those guarantees”. Among the guarantees being considered under the Migrant Workers Act are that (1) receiving countries like Saudi Arabia have existing labor and social laws protecting the rights of workers, including migrant workers, (2) that the receiving country is a signatory to and has ratified multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions relating to the protection of workers, and that (3) the receiving country has concluded bilateral agreement with the Philippines on the protection of the rights of overseas Filipino workers. “The certification of these guarantees will be the basis for the continuance of the deployment of Filipino overseas workers in the Kingdom,” Philippine labor officials said.
