Senator Cynthia Villar has cited the need for the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment to ensure that the household staff of Filipino diplomats pass through the POEA and OWWA for increased protection and access to welfare benefits.
She called on the DFA to register all the household staff members of Filipino diplomats with the POEA and guarantee their membership with the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration to ensure better protection for them.
Villar issued the call over the alleged maltreatment of a domestic worker by Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro.
The senator’s office checked with the POEA and OWWA and found that neither of the two agencies had any record of the employment of Mauro’s domestic worker.
“Since our laws have clearly given the task of regulating overseas employment to the POEA and the care for the welfare of OFWs to OWWA, then this should also fairly apply to workers brought by ambassadors and other foreign service personnel to work in their residences abroad,” said Villar, a known advocate of migrant Filipino workers.
However, Villar says she doesn’t see any need to pass a law to institutionalize the new system because there are no private recruitment agencies involved, and the employers and workers are both Filipinos.
“Under POEA rules, diplomats are allowed to directly hire domestic workers, but their contracts still need to be registered with the POEA. Why was this not followed in the case of Ambassador Mauro? Or is this being followed at all?
“I hope that the DFA and the DOLE can just meet and discuss how to use existing laws and mechanisms to ensure the protection of domestic workers brought by our ambassadors to work overseas.”
Villar noted that the video leaked to the Brazilian media clearly showed Mauro physically abusing her helper.
“Perhaps such acts of physical maltreatment and intimidation can be prevented with the participation of the POEA and OWWA in the hiring and deployment process to ensure a more transparent, professional and welfare-driven approach in the treatment of domestic workers under the domicile of Philippine diplomats,” Villar said.
She says domestic workers overseas are entitled to scholarship benefits for their dependents as well as insurance and livelihood assistance as OWWA members. They also undergo mandatory pre-departure orientation seminars to enhance their knowledge about workers’ rights.
“Why are the domestic workers of our ambassadors not even OWWA members? They should also be entitled to the same benefits as those enjoyed by overseas domestic workers hired by foreign employers,” Villar said.
Meanwhile, Villar praised the Office of the President for its swift action on the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs to investigate the alleged maltreatment of the domestic worker employed by the Philippine ambassador to Brazil.