THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is set to start reducing by the first quarter the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployed to the Middle East by erring foreign employers and foreign recruitment agencies (FRA).
This is in compliance with a memorandum issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) last month ordering the Poea and the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices to minimize by 10 percent its processed OFWs for foreign employers and FRAs, which have incidents of having distressed OFWs.
The measures aim to protect the welfare of OFWs abroad and minimize the number of negligent foreign employers and FRAs, the POEA claims.
“We are already crafting the guidelines for this directive, which we will release this January,” POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia said in an interview.
Olalia said the guidelines will focus particularly on Filipino household service workers since they are usually ones who are prone to abuses such contract violation, contract substitution and physical abuse.
The POEA said the reduction will not cover foreign employers and FRAs that “have well-cared for OFWs and are compliant with government regulations.”
“There will be no blanket [deployment] reduction,” the labor official said. “There is no reason in bringing down [the deployment] of those with good track record.”
Instead, he said they might even increase the deployment quota of the foreign employers and FRAs with good standing.
“That is why there might not even a reduction [in the total deployment] because the increase [in deployment] for compliant FRAs and employers might offset the decrease for the non-compliant ones,” Olalia explained.
He said they are planning to pilot-test the guidelines during the first quarter of this year before they consider expanding the coverage of the policy to countries aside from those in the Middle East.
He said they may also adjust the percentage of the reduction depending on its impact on the labor market.
Some recruitment stakeholders earlier expressed concern the new policy may trigger retaliatory action from countries, which will be affected by the new policy.
But Olalia allayed such fears, noting the government is merely exercising its mandate to impose disciplinary actions against erring foreign employers and FRAs.
“This is based on our existing rules, which we have been implementing for the longest time so we don’t expect any resistance [from the affected countries] in its implementation,” Olalia said.
As of last Friday, Olalia said they have yet to receive any concern or complaint from any Middle East countries on their new deployment policy.