Nanay Edith Langamin forwarded a text she got from Atty. Ira Pozon of the Office of the Vice-President to my mobile phone. It said that the Vice-President would like to meet with her regarding the case of her son, Jonard, who is on Saudi Arabia’s death row. The meeting was to be held Wednesday, January 4 at the Coconut Palace.

“Ma’am Toots, pakisamahan po ako,” Nanay Edith said. The Blas F. Ople Center, a nonprofit organization, which I head, has been helping Nanay Edith follow-up on her son’s case since April 2011. At that time, news reporter Jeff Canoy was doing a documentary on the lives of OFWs. Jeff’’s able researcher, Cherrie Ongtengco, fetched Nanay Edith at her home in Caloocan City for that eventful morning meeting.

It was 10.30 am, Wednesday. We motored from the Ople Center to the spacious Coconut Palace by the bay. Nanay Edith brought along her sister, Rina. At the entrance of the Vice-President’s wooden palace was Atty. Ira Pozon, the person tasked with looking after sensitive OFW cases. His handshake was warm, as was his smile. Nanay Edith’s heart fluttered with anticipation.

We were shown into a room. Already seated were Vice-President Jejomar Binay, his adviser, former Ambassador Jun Lozada, OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon, and Robert Mendoza, the father of Robertson Mendoza, who was killed by Jonard Langamin during an altercation on May 5, 2008. Both the Mendoza and Langamin families were unaware that the meeting would involve both parties. However, Nanay Edith and Ka Bert have met twice before. Ka Bert is a softspoken man with a good heart who had told me once before that he bore no grudge against Jonard.

The entire group moved to the Vice-President’s office where there was a comfortable set of sofas facing each other, and three chairs commanding the front. On those three chairs sat Administrator Dimzon, Ambassador Lozada and with the Vice-President right in the middle. The Mendoza family sat to his left and Nanay Edith, her sister, Rina, DFA’s Ambassador Eric Endaya of the Office of Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) and I were seated opposite them.

For three years, Nanay Edith had been following up her son’s case. Blood money has been set at the equivalent of Php5 million. Edith and her husband sell fishball and sweet corn at the Baliuag Bus Terminal in Caloocan City. Prior to that meeting, the Langamins were able to raise just Php 30,000, from money chipped in by OFW families and a few anonymous donors. During that Wednesday morning, we learned that Jonard was to be executed on March 2012.

Vice-President Jejomar Binay spoke with a soft voice, and every word he uttered was measured with tact and diplomacy especially towards the aggrieved family. He opened the meeting with an appeal to not dwell on the past and instead focus on how both families could move on. He briefed us about the process regarding blood money cases. He assured Robert Mendoza that the government has taken cognizance of his family’s grief and loss. The Vice-President steered the conversation to the plight of Jonard Langamin and the urgent need for a solution prior to March. He asked Ka Bert in the softest and most gentle manner possible, whether he would be able to forgive Jonard and to put such act of forgiveness in writing. After a few quiet heartbeats, Ka Bert, who was looking down at that time, nodded yes.

The intensity of that moment shall stay with me forever. While the Vice-President and Ambassador Endaya of the DFA were discussing procedures, Nanay Edith leaped out of the sofa and crossed over to Ka Bert’s side and knelt before him. Her body shook with tears, emotions etched on her face like a glass sculpture. The room itself was suffused with joy pouring out from Edith’s grateful heart. Three years, that case was unresolved. It took ten minutes on that fateful Wednesday morning, for Jonard Langamin’s life to be spared. God was in the room.

Later that day, I watched the news and saw Bert Mendoza explaining why he decided to formally forgive Jonard. “I asked my son for a sign. I said that if I woke up early on Wednesday with a light feeling, that would be a sign from Robertson that all must be forgiven.” And yes, he did.

What now remains is for the Department of Foreign Affairs to send the letter of forgiveness signed by Robert Mendoza, as the patriarch of the family, to the Philippine Embassy which shall then formallly present this to the Saudi court. What is important is that Jonard’s life has been spared. What is inspiring was how Ka Bert found freedom in forgiveness. I wish the Langamin and Mendoza families the best of luck in their new lives and I thank Vice-President Binay and the DFA for resolving this case. (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/susanople.)

Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa is a hero. While in Libya, he fulfilled his promise to bring home two Filipino domestic workers being held against their will by their employer, deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s niece. While the Department of Foreign Affairs had enunciated its position to wait for the Libyan transition council to take over the country’s leadership, Labor Attache Mustafa worked out a bold rescue plan.

What was remarkable about his feat is the modesty attached to it. An initial statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs regarding the Philippine Embassy’s rescue mission conjured images of an elaborate and grandiose plan, citing the use of two embassy teams and a pit stop at the embassy itself. That someone even felt compelled to issue such a premature and half-baked statement without proper coordination with the labor department smacks of territorial assertion rather than the more benign country team approach.

Here are some details about the actual rescue as gathered by this writer:

• Mary Ann and Diana Jill have long wanted to come home and feared for their lives as the conflict in Libya intensified but their employer, a niece of Col. Gadhafi, refused to let them go.
• It took ten days for Labor Attache Mustafa to locate the actual residence of Diana’s employer which at times was surrounded by rebel forces.
• At around 6.30 AM of September 19 (Manila time), Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa, embassy driver Alih Mariwa and his Libyan friend and interpreter Awal Ajanti rescued Diana Jill Rivera and Mary Ann Ducos from their Libyan employers.
• On the morning of the rescue, Mustafa was in touch with the two women via mobile phone and he requested Mary Ann to go up the roof and wave to him as a confirmation that he was in front of the right house.
• While Mary Ann was on top of the roof, Diana Jill was keeping guard on the ground. She made sure that her two little wards were asleep and that none of the armed guards and her employers were awake.
• The two left the house using the front gate, leaving behind all their belongings, as instructed by the labor attaché.
• Once they were in the embassy car, Labor Attache Mustafa instructed Alih Mariwa to drive as fast as he could away from the house and towards the Tunisian border.
• Diana Jill and Mary Ann were able to cross the border from Libya to Tunisia using travel documents prepared by the Philippine Embassy.

On his Facebook page, two days after the daring rescue, Labor Attache Mustafa posted this comment: “Real success is finding your life’s work in the work that you love.” Bravo Labatt Nash Mustafa for your heroism and leadership in bringing our two OFWs home!
Upon hearing of Mustafa’s efforts, civil society groups allied with the Blas F. Ople Policy Center were quick to come together and plan a tribute dinner for him. Jun Aguilar of the Filipino Migrant Workers’ Group said that the labor attache’s three-man team breathe life to President Aquino’s inaugural directive of an even more responsive DFA and DoLE for distressed OFWs.

There are more people to thank for working behind the scenes and also for assuring the two OFWs of new and better beginnings. First dibs go to Jenny Rivera who tirelessly worked for the freedom of her sister, Diana Jill. Her persistence in going to DoLE, the DFA, and OWWA to follow up her sister’s case led her to become the Ople Center’s liaison officer. Labor Attache Mustafa did the actual rescue but it was Jenny’s fighting spirit that kept that option open from February to September of this year.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis accommodated all our requests, and was ever present at the DFA whenever Jenny had information to share. We at the Ople Center also acknowledge the help of the staff and officers at the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs. Special thanks go to Vice-President Jejomar Binay who had comforted Jenny in the past and kept his promise of making sure that her sister’s case would not be forgotten.

James Concepcion, president of the Days Hotel and Cecille Tan, vice president for operations, have assured Diana Jill and Mary Ann that they could train and work for the Days Hotel in Cebu City. Such a generous job offer gave both OFWs real hope after months of despair and danger in the Gadhafi compound. Special thanks also to Jane Ampeloquio of Emergent Concept for willingly taking on the task of training these two household workers.

Upon their arrival in Manila, the two OFWs bonded with their families at the posh Midas Hotel where their weekend stay was sponsored by good friends, Zaldy and Mylene Co through my best friend Arleen Ong. Finally but never least, we offer perpetual thanks to the Lord who have yet to fail us in our mission to help distressed OFWs. He makes the impossible, simply possible. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. The Ople Center’s hotline is 8335337.)

News Release

Blas F. Ople Policy Center

February 10, 2010

NGO calls on PH to say less and do more to show appreciation for its friendship with Taiwan

Former labor undersecretary and known OFW advocate Susan Ople called on the Aquino administration to bare its plans on how to mitigate the impact of further fall-out from the ongoing row between the Philippines and Taiwan over the recent deportation of 24 Taiwanese nationals to mainland China.

The daughter of the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople stressed that while the Philippine government continues to invoke its One-China policy, the fate of over 100,000 Filipino workers and their families back home hang in the balance.

“Are we truly prepared to walk the talk? What is our contingency plan once Taiwan decides not to renew the contracts of our workers? If we don’t even have one, then I appeal to government officials to come up with more nuanced and sober statements,”‘ Ople said, adding that the worsening rift is now causing Filipinos in Taiwan deep concern.

The head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization known for helping distressed OFWs, said that there are instances in the diplomatic world when the “‘less talk-more action’” rule should be observed. “‘To my mind, this is one such instance. Let our diplomats and private industry leaders sort this out with their counterparts as long-standing friends are wont to do, below the radar screen but always with deep respect and appreciation for each other.”‘

The center pointed out the irony that billions of pesos are being poured in to finance conditional cash transfers to the poor yet the government seems to be too stingy in its statements extolling the mutually beneficial relations between Taiwan and the Philippines over the years that have led to decent jobs for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.

‘Low-skilled migrant workers in Taiwan including Filipinos earn at least twice, if not triple, the minimum wage in their homeland. Taiwan has been quite effective in promoting the rights of all workers including foreign workers. And while we adhere to the One-China policy as many other countries do, we should not fail to recognize and be grateful for the enormous contributions of the peoples and leadership of Taiwan to our country.”

The anti-human trafficking advocate noted that there may have been a coordination gap when the Bureau of Immigration failed to notify the Manila Economic and Cultural Office about the pending case involving 24 Taiwanese nationals. ‘This is not to cast aspersion on any single agency but simple courtesies do matter. Had the MECO and even our labor department been informed early on about this then perhaps a more amicable compromise could have been reached through diplomatic and private sector channels without compromising our foreign policy.’ ”

The lack of coordination between and among different agencies is apparent even with the post-deportation statements being issued by various officials.

Ople thus appealed to the Aquino administration: “‘Speak with one voice, and deliver one clear and unified message.”‘ The NGO leader said that at this point, the government should simply refer all media inquiries about the Taiwan rift to the labor department, while making known the Philippines’ desire to reach out to the people of Taiwan and engage in talks about mutual cooperation in the fight against transnational crime.

END

Kuala Lumpur – The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice jointly organized a three-day regional training on the protection of trafficking in persons victims and prosecution of offenders abroad in Malaysia on November 17-19.

I was invited as a resource person to give a presentation on the role of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center as a non-government organization that assists distressed Filipino workers particularly those trafficked to different countries. The audience was composed of 35 Philippine Embassy officials assigned in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries. They comprised consular officers, labor attaches, welfare attaches, and assistance-to-nationals (ATN) officers. Representatives from the Philippine Embassy in Dili, the Philippine Consulates-General in Hong Kong and Manado plus the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei attended as well.

The training program designed by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking with help from the International Labor Organization was well-structured and relevant to the work of our foreign posts. Topics included the global context of human trafficking, detection and identification and evidence of trafficking, preparation of a sworn statement, treatment of victims including assistance and protection, and how to use a newly-developed database system for referral and action tailor-made to trafficking cases. A common thread in all discussions was the role of the Foreign Service in prevention, protection, and prosecution – the three pillars of an anti-trafficking campaign.

As part of the discussions on reintegration services, I briefed them about the Skills-UP! vocational scholarships offered by the Blas F. Ople Center to trafficking victims in partnership with the Manny Villar Foundation and Asian School for Hospitality Arts. We also discussed an ongoing case that involved a Singaporean national with the alias of Alfred Lim who has been charged in Malaysian court by two of our wards.

During the open forum, one of the consular officers asked why, despite all their hard work, they have not received the kind of acknowledgement and recognition that these frontline embassy personnel believe should be forthcoming. I told them that one of the things they have to contend with is that the government now has to share the stage with so many other non-state actors.

“You would have to be more aggressive and assertive in putting your message and information across.” This is also one of the reasons, I said, that government functionaries should understand why it is important to work closely with civil society groups. While government puts in the usual hours, its constituents are able to converse and exchange ideas in a parallel digital universe. “We have all these running conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and e-groups that very few of you are part of,” I stressed, adding that while bureaucrats need to maintain certain boundaries, private citizens are able to exercise free speech at will and with increasing velocity, thanks to cyberspace.

I learned a lot from the reports shared by representatives of different posts regarding the trafficking cases they have encountered. For example, the representative from the Philippine Embassy in Singapore cited a decrease in the number of Filipino women victims but noticed an increase in male victims especially in the case of Filipino fishermen who are being recruited from distant provinces to work illegally for fishing vessels in the high seas of Singapore. “They worked for two years at an average of 18 hours a day under abominable conditions with a monthly salary of $200, which they were able to claim at the end of two years,” the consular officer said. The fishermen were deployed by a travel agency based in Manila that despite several complaints, continue to operate.

A common source of concern was the growing involvement of Filipinos in the international drug trade. Consul General Raymond Balatbat of the Philippine Embassy in Brunei recounted the case of “M”, a Filipina who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Board for possessing 251 grams of heroin. She arrived in Brunei with her 2-year old son in tow. “M” averred that she did not know that the bag lent to her by a Malaysian friend contained illegal drugs. The court will hear her case next year while a Filipino couple known to the embassy looks after the suspect’s little boy. Here in Malaysia, around 15 Filipinos arrested for the possession of illegal drugs face the death penalty.

The problem of human trafficking and the involvement of Filipinos in the global drug trade shall continue as long as there are Filipinos who are not too wise and careful in making career choices and a slew of compatriots who see every worker’s dream as an opportunity to earn. In my visit to the Workers’ Welfare Center, I asked the wards why it was so easy for the recruiters to sell them empty promises. One of the wards said that it was her relative who recruited her. The others agreed. Several of them were recruited by someone that the family knew and trusted. To all overseas job applicants, I say please be careful.  For trafficking syndicates, money is always thicker than blood or friendship. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople)

Jerwin Alcantara is a farmer from Jaen, Nueva Ecija. All his dreams in life were contained in a single document: his Philippine passport. Unused and hidden as one would a cherished belonging, Jerwin thought that his passport was the golden pass to a better life.

One day, two ladies went to his rustic barangay. They were recruiters in search of grape-pickers for Cyprus. Honey-tongued and urban-dressed, they were treated as celebrities, like game hosts about to proclaim the lucky winners. Except they were neither, and the job offers for Cyprus were non-existent. Jerwin was among those who fell for the scam. Worse, he used the family’s rice land as collateral for a loan to pay off the illegal recruiters. Unable to pay off his loan, the private lender had sold the family’s land leaving Jerwin and his brother to work as farm hands in a neighbor’s farm.

The Blas F. Ople Center, a non-profit organization named after my late father, has been helping Jerwin and his fellow victims after they filed the appropriate complaints with the National Bureau of Investigation. Sadly, the recruiters remain scot-free, and are said to be as honey-tongued and sassy as ever.

Jerwin and his brother, Jayveen, are among the 20 scholars of Skills Up!, a vocational training and scholarship program that we developed together with the Manny Villar Foundation and Asian School for Hospitality Arts for victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment. For three months, the two brothers are enrolled in a barista course where they would make gourmet coffee. From magsasaka to barista, Jerwin hopes to have sufficient skills and experience that would lead to having his passport marked for travel abroad as an overseas Filipino worker.

Thankfully, our partners for the Skills Up! project are genuine advocates for the welfare of our OFWs. Senator Manny Villar has lived up to his commitment to continue helping OFWs. He sent a team of professional counsellors and social workers to Hong Kong to provide free group therapy sessions to improve our workers’ coping mechanisms right after the disastrous Manila hostage taking-incident. Through his foundation, the good senator has agreed to sponsor the tuition fees and even board and lodging of our 20 scholars, most of whom, like the Alcantara brothers, have lost nearly everything as victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.

Owned by Rico Trinidad and Badjie Guerrero-Trinidad, ASHA developed a special course tailor-made for our scholars that include motivational lectures to give them a nurturing and confidence-building environment. Scholars are made to choose between two courses: hotel housekeeping or baristas. ASHA commits to helping our trainees in job placement services after they graduate.

The Blas F. Ople Center also has the Microsoft Tulay program which provides free computer classes to overseas workers and their families. For ten days, our learners are taught how to use Word processing, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and Internet fundamentals. Under the Tulay program, we have seen our students blossom into computer-savvy individuals, regardless of age or educational attainment.

Case in point is the extremely shy but highly capable Teresa Labrador from Negros Oriental. She enrolled in the Tulay Program prodded by her progressive-minded employer, Irene Polancos, owner of G-Car Marketing Resources. Tere only reached up to Grade 6 and was employed as a kasambahay or household worker by the Polancos family. After completing the ten-day Microsoft Tulay course, Tere has found employment as an office worker in Selecta. She checks on the deliveries and provides assistance to customers and clients. Her occupational shift is but a start of a wider avenue of options.

Against this tapestry of real-life stories, I am amazed by the magnificence of change. I am enchanted with the twists and turns of a skill-driven life. I am in love with the concept that knowledge can and is transformational. My father was a dockhand at North Harbor. He became a Senate President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs. And he did it before he became known as an Ople. He was self-made, and throughout his life, he was skills-and knowledge-driven.

The magnificence of change is something that we must all strive to behold, because the ups and downs of life are replete with both questions and answers. We keep hearing about becoming agents of change. It isn’t truly difficult to be such an agent. All it needs is the desire to be a nurturing and caring person, or a nurturing and caring company.

When my family thought of forming the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, we didn’t have a clue about what we should be involved in and how. It’s like driving at night, your headlights can only light up part of the way. God lights up the rest.

If you believe that with all your heart, then you can see clearly and know intimately how change can be magnificent and resplendent with fulfilment and joy. We all have our road bumps. It is up to us to change lanes and move forward. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. Visit my blog: www.susanople.com)

I am glad that you are finally the Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ Concerns. Your predecessor, Vice-President Noli de Castro, did an excellent job in this position. He poured a lot of heart and soul in helping our OFWs, and often travelled to the Middle East to convey our government’s concern over the plight of distressed workers especially those on death row.

This position is a challenging one not only because of the sheer size of your constituency – around 9 million overseas Filipinos and their families back home – but also because of the tight budget deficit that makes it extremely difficult for government to spend more for repatriation and recovery programs. But spend it must, not just for protection, but most especially on the prevention of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.

I have no doubt that your work as the President’s key adviser on OFW issues and concerns will draw from your own personal experience as a mayor. You would need to listen to a lot of sob stories; deal with the police and NBI to ensure that cases are resolved; and work closely with the labor and foreign affairs departments to ensure a stricter monitoring of the deployment of our workers as well as better onsite services to help those already overseas. Being an action man and a lawyer to boot, you will enjoy this position, and because the Filipino Diaspora is replete with human interest stories, publicity will hound you as the nation witnesses the unfolding of one controversial and heart wrenching case after another.

Foremost in the to-do list of this administration is the fight against human trafficking and illegal recruitment. We are now in the Tier 2 Watch List of the US State Department. We have been in this same category for two years now, from 2009 to 2010. Under the US anti-trafficking law, a country that has been in the Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years faces an automatic downgrade unless significant efforts are shown in the fight against trafficking. At risk are $250 million in non-humanitarian assistance from the US government. More importantly, at risk are the lives of so many potential victims of human trafficking and forced labor here and abroad.

President Benigno Simeon Aquino has expressed his commitment to fight trafficking in several occasions. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz have spearheaded reforms in their respective departments against trafficking. There are encouraging signs all around us that this issue is being addressed firmly and sincerely by the present government.

Unfortunately, the deeds must match the words. It is in the very low conviction rates for trafficked and illegal recruitment cases where we fail as a nation. For several years, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking under the justice department has not received even a single peso in budgetary allocation. These two areas require drastic positive change. The Department of Budget and Managment has allotted a budget for the IACAT in the 2011 proposed General Appropriations Act. Please, Mr. Vice-President, please make sure that this budget item is not dropped for frivolous and self-serving reasons because its deletion can imperil our fight to stay out of the Tier 3 category.

I am glad that the Department of Interior and Local Governments headed by Secretary Jesse Robredo has taken up the cause of anti-trafficking and illegal recruitment as well. The Blas F. Ople Center led by yours truly and three other non-government organizations namely, the Visayan Forum Foundation, the Association of Child Caring Agencies of the Philippines and the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy signed an agreement with the DILG to render technical support and help build the capacities of local governments in the prevention of human trafficking and illegal recruitment at the barangay level.

Much work still needs to be done. I am highly concerned over the certification process now being undertaken by our embassies and consulates abroad in keeping with Section 3 of Republic Act No. 10022 or the Amendments to the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995. One wrong move could be met by an antagonistic response by an offended labor receiving country. Confusion can also be an outcome as millions of OFWs are not even aware that such a law has been passed. If there is anything that you need to study and oversee, it is the myriad implications that this new law have on overseas employment program and the OFWs themselves. This is why a dialogue regarding this new law between you and different stakeholders is quite urgent.

Mr. Vice-President, you do have your work cut out for you. With hundreds of Filipinos under detention and the list of drug mules on death row growing longer by the month, you literally hold the key to saving the lives of many OFWs. As an OFW advocate, I wish you all the best. Please serve as an effective bridge between our OFWs and their families and the President of this beloved Republic. Our modern-day heroes expect nothing less. (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. Visit my blog at www.susanople.com)

If you were an ordinary worker and applied for a job in the United States through a licensed recruitment agency and was accepted then granted a much-coveted visa, would you not believe that only the best is yet to come?

Last year, eighteen Filipinos, recruited by a licensed recruitment agency known as “ZDrive Incorporated”,  believed that the best has yet to come and backed this dream with cold cash to the tune of P250,000 each. “ZDrive” is a licensed employment agency based in Laguna which had a tie-up with an American firm named, “US Opportunities.” The latter is not the end-employer but labor sub-contracting firm owned by a certain Mike Lombardi.

During the application period, the local recruitment agency explained to the 18 workers that the available jobs being offered by US Opportunities were as food servers, waiters, cooks, and housekeepers at a country club in Florida under the H2b program that bears a working visa valid for six months and renewable for another three years. The applicants were assured that their salary will be minimum-wage compliant, meaning at least $7.00 per hour with an overtime pay starting at $10.50 per hour with free meals and transportation from their housing facilities.

The steep placement fee of P250,000 could be arranged, the local recruiter said, through a loan from PJH Lending Corporation or Asialink Finance Corporation, two lending agencies that have a preferred partnership with ZDrive, Inc.

In the end, the 18 workers were able to leave, but with tickets bound for Mississippi rather than Florida. They were able to work, but in a farm rather than a ritzy country club. They were forced to do odd jobs from raking and bailing of pine leaves to planting pine tree seedlings for wages way below the minimum. There were no free meals or free transportation. Rather than their passports, US Opportunities took hold of the workers’ Social Security cards, a must-have for future employment. Atty. Carr told me that one of the workers was made to sweep a street almost as long as EDSA of pine leaves!

Meanwhile, the lending company in the Philippines is trying to collect from the loans from the victims’ families, and are threatening to sue them for violations of the anti-bouncing check law. This case reminds me a lot of our own experience at the Blas F. Ople Policy Center in relation to the trafficking and illegal recruitment case filed by 137 bus drivers against 12 licensed recruitment agencies and an unscrupulous lending company that conspired to deploy them to Dubai for non-existent jobs. The families of the bus drivers were also subjected to harassment by RJJ Lacaba Financing Corporation, which led us to help them file a class suit in court. This case is still pending but I have been told that the latter is now trying hard to form a consortium of insurance companies that would provide compulsory liability insurance to private recruitment agencies.

A Filipino immigration lawyer, Atty. Elaine Carr, together with Catholic Charities, a faith-based non-government organization, and generous souls in the Filipino community have been helping the victims. I met Atty. Elaine Carr and am impressed by her dedication in defending the rights of our 18 workers. She is closely coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security because the temporary visas of the workers have expired. As trafficked victims, the 18 Filipinos are being allowed to stay mainly because of their role as witnesses in a major forced labor trafficking case.

It is always with a heavy heart that I commit this Sunday column space to stories about trafficked victims. In this case, I felt it was important to spread the word that if a job offer to work abroad is too good to be true, it often never is. Even if the worker has been able to secure a US visa, gone through the legal process of applying with a licensed agency, and had a formal signed contract with him when he travelled, these are not solid guarantees of fulfilled promises. In this particular case, air tickets bound for Mississippi when the jobs offered were Florida-based were red flags that everyone conveniently ignored. Labor Undersecretary Hans Cacdac also stressed that developed states also known as First World countries do not allow the charging of placement fees. What is true for Canada, is also true for the United States: no placement fees allowed. That the local recruitment agency referred the victims to a lending company to cover the cost of Php 250,000 is another red flag.

How extremely sad that these 18 workers followed all the right steps but still ended up as trafficked victims in the United States. According to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, the local agency has been suspended and cases will be filed in coordination with the Department of Justice. Meanwhile, in behalf of all our worthy Our Times readers, let me send out a message of thanks to Atty. Elaine Carr and our labor attaché in Washington D.C., Atty. Minda Padilla, for looking after these workers’ best interests in the state of Missisippi. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com)

(Formal statement of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center as read by Susan Ople, president, during the first hearing of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, September 1, 2010)

Thank you for this opportunity to share our insights as a non-government organization on government’s efforts to fight human trafficking.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center is currently monitoring and assisting trafficked victims in 16 pending cases at various stages of investigation and trial.

With the help and guidance of Atty. Reynaldo Robles of ChanRobles & Associates, who incidentally is also the chief of staff of Senator Trillanes, and in partnership with the DOJ, we were able to assist and support two trafficked survivors in filing cases against a notorious human trafficker in Malaysia, his recruiter here in the Philippines, and some immigration agents involved in the escort of the victims.

But just to show you, Madame Chair, how difficult that journey is – here is a timeline put together by the Center:

• The NBI investigation took 4 months
• The DOJ investigation took 6 months
• A case filed against the recruiter has been ongoing at the Batangas RTC for 12 months
• The administrative case filed VS immigration agents has been going on for 21 months already.

Regarding the much publicized case of the 137 bus drivers sent to Dubai, the DoJ investigation into the illegal recruitment aspect took 16 months; the NBI investigation into the human trafficking aspect took 6 months; Our class suit for damages and nullification of loans has been on-going for 15 months already.

Meanwhile, the toll on the victims – emotionally, physically and financially, is extremely heavy.

Even if they want to, they are unable to look for jobs because of extreme poverty. Many of these victims don’t even have the pocket money to pay for transport fare and food every time they are summoned to attend a hearing. In the case of the bus drivers, one of them slept under a bridge here in Manila because he couldn’t afford to go home.

The emotional and physical burdens are just as heavy – for the trafficked survivors who were molested and forced into prostitution, they are forced to put on a brave face, keeping secrets from even their spouses, on the kind of work they had to endure while abroad.

Based on our experience, Madam Chair, we therefore recommend the following:

1. For the DFA to use its legal assistance fund in filing forced labor and or trafficking cases against foreign employers and agents who connived with each other in profiting from the vulnerability of our workers;
2. For the DSWD, DoLE and DoJ to work on a justice and reintegration program specifically tailored for victims of human trafficking, including children, so that NGOs like us can have better chances of convincing these victims to pursue cases against their recruiters;
3. For the Senate and House of Representatives to fast-track legislation that would lead to:

1. An amendment to Section 7 of the Anti-Trafficking Act of 2003 that would delete the right of the accused to privacy; Madame Chair, why bestow the right to privacy to an accused who in turn uses this privilege by recruiting more victims? This so-called right also diminishes our own right to inform or warn the public whenever a human trafficker with pending warrants of arrests is operating in a particular province.

1. b. A review of fees being charged against an overseas job applicant as well as lending and recruitment practices that makes human trafficking profitable. In the case of the 137 bus drivers, Madame Chair, they were asked to sign 39 checks and various documents in one day by the lending company. When they came home penniless and traumatized because the job offer was bogus, the lending company and the bank even took them to court. When we inquired from the POEA and BSP about this, they said that none of them have any jurisdiction over lending companies that cater to the OFW market. Yet, in many cases our OFWs are forced to endure inhumane work conditions to pay off such debts. Doon po sa bagong batas, may provision doon about lending companies pero hindi pa rin po malinaw kung sino o aling ahensya ang dapat magbantay sa mga balasubas at ganid na lending companies.

1. We also wish to appeal to the committee to review Republic Act 10022 that lapsed into law last January. Specifically, I am very concerned that its provisions mandating the DFA and our foreign posts to certify whether a labor-receiving country is compliant with labor laws and international conventions could lead to an erosion of goodwill on the part of our foreign service – goodwill that is badly needed if we are to help our trafficked victims.

Kung mapapahiya po ang ating mga ambassadors at labor attaches dahil sa kagustuhan na ipatupad ang batas na ito, sino pa po ang puwedeng lapitan ng ating OFWs? Kung ang ILO po ay hindi maggawa ang ganitong uri ng certification process, paano pa kaya ang DFA?

1. We also want a clear target set on when and how we can gradually withdraw from the household service workers’ market especially in the Middle East. Unless we set a definite timeline, the exodus of mothers and daughters will continue, by default – because there is no specific program aimed at reducing their numbers. I hope that TESDA can come up with a nationwide skills training program specifically for women, to remove them from the category of workers most likely to apply as domestic helpers abroad.

In closing, the NGOs who are here are just a tiny fraction of a vortex of groups and individuals advocating for stronger protective mechanisms for our OFWs including those trafficked to different countries.

Foreign grants are difficult to get by, and they are often tailor-made for specific purposes. We call on the different government agencies to provide the NGO sector with technical assistance and yes, financial support, so that we can sustain our programs and services at the micro, grassroots level.

Thank you.

We had a dinner-forum event last Wednesday, May 12, at Dulcinea in Tomas Morato. We invited several bloggers so that they could meet some of the bus drivers that the Ople Center was able to bring home from Dubai.

Here’s the video that the Blas F. Ople Policy Center produced against Human Trafficking and Illegal Recruitment. Please share this video with your office mates, friends, and family – especially those who have plans on leaving the country as an OFW.

Thank you to all the bloggers who attended the event. We hope that you can help us spread the word.

Here are the posts made by the bloggers. I’ll update this as they make their posts:

Noemi Dado from About My Recovery: OFW alert: Beware of Illegal Recruitment and Human Trafficking

News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
April 12, 2009

Filipino community rallies around 137 stranded bus drivers in Dubai; Ople Center seeks immediate probe and suspension of licensed agency involved in their recruitment

In keeping with the spirit of Lent, the “bayanihan” spirit was alive and well in Dubai as Filipinos pitch in canned goods, water, toiletries, and other food items to help 137 bus drivers stranded and looking for jobs after being deployed there by a licensed recruitment agency.

The stranded drivers were overwhelmed by the show of hospitality and generosity by Filipino community leaders who traveled in a convoy yesterday (Black Saturday). According to Ares Gutierrez, sub-editor of XPRESS, the Dubai-based paper that broke the story about the stranded bus drivers, most of the victims were confused as to what they should do next.

One of the drivers, Claro Oliver of Rizal province, contacted the Blas F. Ople Policy Center yesterday for help in pursuing justice against their recruiter, CYM International Services, a licensed recruitment agency. The agency promised the Filipino drivers good-paying jobs at Dubai’s government transport agency known as Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Some of the drivers, some of who quit their local jobs despite years of service, have been waiting to be hired by RTA since January of this year. Desperate for food and cash, the stranded drives have resorted to scavenging a dumpsite for scrap food.

Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the Blas F. Ople Center, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to immediately investigate and if possible, suspend the said agency and its counterpart in Dubai, Al Toomoh Technical Services. “The sheer number of victims involved constitutes an act of economic sabotage by this licensed agency. We urge immediate action and for the owners of the agency to be barred from leaving the country.”

The bus drivers, nearly half of who hail from the province of Bulacan, complained to the Ople Center that their passports were being held by the foreign counterpart of their local agency in Dubai. This prevents them from applying for new jobs. Majority of the victims are professional drivers who have worked for years in reputable transport companies such as Baliuag Transit. The Center said the Philippine Consulate should intervene and obtain the passports of the stranded workers.

The plight of the 137 bus drivers were first exposed by Filipino journalists Jay Hilotin and Ares Gutierrez of Xpress publications based on a tip from a fellow Filipino journalist working at Gulf News. Word quickly spread through e-mail and soon, an assembly time and place were designated to enable Filipinos to join an aid convoy leading to the camp where the bus drivers were staying. A Filipino association of Airsoft aficionados whose game was suspended last Friday, pitched in by giving cash donations.

Aside from lack of food, the drivers were sharing living quarters near the Ajman garbage dumpsite. Their building’s electric power is sourced from a generator, giving them only 3 to 4 hours of electricity. The building also has inadequate water supply.

According to the drivers, they paid as much as P150,000 to CYM International Services in exchange for jobs at RTA. Some of the drivers have been staying in Dubai waiting for the promised jobs to come into fruition since January.

Based on interviews with XPRESS, driver Max Sumulong, 34, one of the victims, said last year CYM had offered him a job as a driver for Dh5,200 a month and he had given the agency 10,000 pesos (Dh1,000) as “processing fee”.

“The agency had asked each one of us to take out a 150,000-peso (Dh11,418) loan from a lending agency recommended by them and made us sign undated cheques worth 405,000 pesos (about Dh40,000) addressed to a bank and the lending agency, payable in 15 months,” he said.

Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila, said: “We’ve been collecting aluminium cans, selling them at Dh4 per kg in Ajman, just to have something to eat.”

The stranded bus drivers are hoping that the Philippine Consulate can help them look for jobs in Dubai rather than be sent home. “Their biggest worry is on how they can repay the lending agency. If they come home, whatever they earn as bus drivers won’t be enough to pay off their loans and still sustain the needs of their families,” Ople explained.

Ople said she is awaiting documents from the bus drivers that would help speed up the POEA’s investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment practices of CYM International Services and its counterpart in Dubai. The Filipino community has lent the drivers a photocopy machine so they could consolidate and reproduce all the documents needed to bolster their case.

The former labor undersecretary also hoped that the 137 drivers would be able to meet President Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro and other high-ranking officials in their visit to Dubai.

Picture courtesy of Ares Gutierrez of XPRESS, a Dubai-based paper