Maher Abbas Saudi Gazette RIYADH – The Philippine ambassador to Saudi Arabia says Saudi-Philippine relations that began 69 years ago are excellent. Ezzedin H. Tago said the Kingdom assisted Manila in establishing peace in the provinces of the Philippines playing an important role in this regard. The Philippines participates with Saudi Arabia in the interfaith dialogue between different religions and cultures. This humanitarian initiative was launched by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. In an interview with Saudi Gazette, Ambassador Tago said the visit of Crown Prince Salman, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, to the Philippines several years ago was an impetus for developing and strengthening relations between the two countries at all levels. He valued Prince Salman's donation of $20 million to the Faculty of Islamic Studies in the University of the Philippines, Manila. The ambassador disclosed that a meeting for the Saudi-Philippine Joint Commission is scheduled to be held soon in Riyadh under the chairmanship of Philippine deputy minister of foreign affairs. This will be in line with the implementation of the Economic, Commercial and Technical Cooperation Agreement with the participation of a number of businessmen in the two countries. Such meetings aim to boost the participation of the private sector in joint ventures in all fields. The meeting's agenda is being prepared through the participation channels in the commission, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Businessmen's Council between the two countries. Tago pointed out that petroleum and its derivatives form 90 percent of Saudi exports to the Philippines, as the Kingdom meets 40 percent of the Philippines' needs for these products. He added that the Philippines' exports to the Kingdom include fruits, clothing and cosmetics. He added, “We are now planning to increase joint ventures in all fields including tourism and education.” He described Saudi Arabia as an important partner for his country due to its strong economy and international status. Tago expects the upcoming meetings of the Joint Commission to lay down sound rules for labor relations with regard to Philippine workers in Saudi Arabia. He estimates problem workers in Saudi Arabia not to have reached the level of significance or alarm. Such cases are less than 10 percent of the 600,000 workers in different sectors, including 120,000 domestic workers and 150,000 in the nursing sector. The rest are in other skilled jobs, including technical and technological occupations. Tago, who hails from a Philippine family that has spent long years in Saudi Arabia, studied at the local Manarat Schools. His father worked at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. He also studied for some time in Al-Hurriya School in Giza, Egypt, before moving to California to specialize in political science. As to what was reported in newspapers about conditions demanded by the Philippine side regarding recruitment of housemaids, including the demand for a map showing the location of the sponsor's residence and the salary, Tago said the negotiations between the Saudi and Philippine side ended with nullification of some of the conditions. He said the two sides agreed that recruitment should be through licensed recruitment offices in the two countries. He added that they were still in the stage of negotiation on some pending issues including attestation of the unified work contract. Tago basically blamed workers' brokers on both sides and middlemen, who used to shackle the workers with financial burdens, for some aspects of the labor problems concerning housemaids. He said that they are trying to get rid of exploitation of workers and financially burdening them in order to recruit them or amending the contract agreed on before the worker's arrival. Tago stressed that the licenses of offices proved to have exploited workers coming to the Kingdom would be nullified. He said most of the problems were restricted to the salary for the first three months due to a major reason – the recruitment offices have not given a clear and whole picture to the male and female workers. Secondly, it is due to the nature of work and working hours and differences in culture. He said they make these clear to the male and female workers coming to the Kingdom. Tago said the Philippine government holds orientation courses for workers before they arrive in Saudi Arabia to acquaint them with the laws, customs and traditions in a bid to reducing or preventing labor problems. As to the issue of runaway housemaids from their sponsors, he said the rate is less than 1 percent of the total number of housemaids working in Saudi Arabia, according to statistics of the Center for the Care of Housemaids in Riyadh. He said the embassy in Riyadh is the biggest Philippine mission abroad. About 110 people work in the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah. There is a special department at the embassy for following up labor cases. Twenty employees follow up workers' problems including those taken into custody or are in prison. They also make arrangements for repatriation of the remains of dead workers to the Philippines at the expense of the state or the sponsor. This is specified by the contract between the two parties. As regards to magnetic passports, which have become an obstacle in traveling to Europe and America, Ambassador Tago appealed through Saudi Gazette to sponsors and workers to submit applications for replacing their manual passports with magnetic ones. The process will require a month because the data are sent electronically to the Philippines and then they receive the passport. He stressed that in 2014 they would stop dealing with the old passports. The Philippines is the biggest source for nursing workers in the world. In Saudi Arabia there are 150,000 Philippine female nurses. They form 25 percent of the total number of workers from the Philippines in the Kingdom. This is attributed to the efficiency of male and female Philippine nurses, he said. Tago said the Philippines is trying to attract Saudi investments in tourism. “We are now trying to promote Philippine tourism product to the Gulf tourist,” Tago said. He added that his government is also trying to attract Saudi students to Philippine universities, especially in the fields of dentistry, technology and aviation.
