The Department of Labor and Employment has partnered with a group of private recruitment agencies to protect Filipino migrant workers, particularly those working in high-risk countries.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III signed an agreement with the Coalition of Licensed Agencies for Domestic and Service Workers to extend full protection to domestic workers through the establishment of Welfare Help Desks from licensed Philippine Recruitment Agencies.
“This will help the labor department and our agencies in ensuring the protection and safety of our Filipino migrant workers on their workplace abroad. We thank our partners from the licensed agencies for their initiative to lend assistance to the government and serve our modern-day heroes,” Bello said.
The agreement will also provide DoLE, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration access to monitor the status of CLAD members and their workers on their respective workplaces overseas.
Under the agreement, the OWWA will conduct trainings for the designated Welfare Desk Officers under CLADS and provide them relevant information and communication materials as well as issue certificate of training completion.
“POEA, on the other hand, shall monitor and supervise PRA member of CLADS on their compliance to POEA rules and regulations; integrate monitoring and reporting requirements and provision of welfare assistance to OFWs in the Continuing Agency Education Program [CAEP] for licensed agencies,” Bello said.
“CLADS, on the other hand, is tasked to provide a list of focal persons of the participating recruitment agencies and identify WDOs who will undergo the OWWA training; establish an agency based database to monitor deployment, conditions, well-being and status of employment of workers, including cases of repatriation; and establish an online forum for complaints and assistance for the deployed workers for ease of reporting cases and facilitate timely intervention,” he said.
“We look forward to the success of the MOU since majority of the welfare cases we received here in OWWA came from domestic workers who experience maltreatment, contract violation, sexual abuse, harassment, and other infraction of their rights. The government and the recruitment agencies both have the responsibility to take good care of our modern-day Filipino heroes,” OWWA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said.
CLAD member agencies cover deployment of OFWs in countries such as Singapore, Bahrain, Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Macau, Taiwan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, Japan, Russia, and Europe.