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SENATE
President Manuel Villar on Thursday pressed for the
immediate imposition of sanctions against embassy and
consular officials and personnel who refuse assistance
or display incompetence in extending help to Filipino
migrant workers in distress.
“The
seeming insensitivity and indifference of a number of
Philippine diplomatic and consular officials and
personnel have been reported and they are destroying the
image and dignity of a larger, more committed, devoted
and excellent public servants in the foreign service,”
Villar said.
He
issued the statement after receiving a letter from
Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for
Migrant Advocacy (CMA), who wrote Villar accusing some
members of the diplomatic corps of bad attitude,
negligence and incompetence in attending to the cases of
Filipino migrant workers in distress.
Sana cited the case of Teresita Santos, a sewer who was
gang raped in August 2005 by five Saudi nationals. The
perpetrators were found guilty and were sentenced to
four years imprisonment and 500 lashes each. However,
Santos accused consulate personnel in Jeddah of depriving her of
proper legal advice that almost caused her to lose claim
to her private rights.
In a
letter-complaint submitted to the Department of Foreign
Affairs, Santos said it was only through the help of
fellow migrant workers that she was able to file a case
to claim for her private rights and accused the
Philippien Embassy’s Assistance to Nationals personnel
of blocking the hearings.
Villar
also lamented the case of Julian Camat, Hermilo Ramos
and Napoleon Fabregas, who worked for a cargo handling
company in Jeddah. They were sentenced by the Saudi
court of one and a half years imprisonment for stealing
computers in January 2003.
They
ended up serving four years and four months in detention
because of the negligence of the consulate in Jeddah.
The CMA
also presented the case of Esnaira Angin, a Muslim woman
from Maguindanao, who was one of the four workers in
Dubai,
whose house was broken into by three Emirati and an
Omani in November 2005. She was stabbed in the chest and
back while trying to resist her attackers.
An
undocumented worker, Angin said that before the incident
took place, she sought the help of the Assistant Labor
Attaché to be repatriated back to the Philippines but
was denied help and shelter at the labor office in
absence of money to pay for some fees.
“The
mindset and thinking of our corps of foreign service
must be changed to realize that their existence in
countries where they are detailed and stationed is a
gift to our citizens, particularly the workers. They
must show compassion that the workers richly deserve,”
Villar noted.
He
introduced Resolution 248, urging the Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations to conduct an inquiry into the
allegations of bad attitude, negligence and incompetence
of some Philippine embassy and consular personnel
stationed in various countries in handling cases of
distressed workers.
Villar
likewise filed Senate Bill 1879, seeking to amend
Republic Act 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas
Filipinos Act of 1995. The bill seeks to impose
penalties on Philippine consular officials and other
government personnel for failure to act on complaints
of, or to give assistance or render service to migrant
workers, their families and overseas Filipinos in
distress.
“Over a
decade after its enactment, RA 8042 has not entirely
lived up to its intended purpose. Filipinos abroad
continue to suffer under abusive employers, inhuman
working conditions and various human-rights violations,”
he said.
Under
Villar’s proposal, officials and personnel who fail or
refuse to render service or assistance or both will be
punished with suspension from office of not less than 30
days to dismissal from the service with forfeiture of
retirement and other benefits depending on the gravity
of the offense, and shall be disqualified from holding
any other government position in the future.
Sana backed the Villar bill, assuring the Senate President
that “we join you in upholding the dignity of the
Philippine foreign service corps and in upholding the
government’s commitment to the rights and welfare of
workers and their families.”
Earlier,
Villar also filed Proposed Resolution 189 urging the
Senate Committee on Labor and Employment and Foreign
Relations to conduct an urgent omnibus inquiry on the
plight of detained Filipino workers in various countries
in order to formulate remedial measure and devise a
package of assistance to protect migrant workers.
He
asserted that “an assessment of the legal and social
remedies being afforded by our embassies and consular
offices to our kababayan detained abroad for
various offenses is imperative to ascertain sufficiency
of assistance for the protection of workers.” |
