A migrant advocate group on Thursday filed an ethics complaint against ACTS OFW Party-list Rep. Aniceto “John” D. Bertiz III at the House of Representatives for his alleged maltreatment of the lawmaker’s constituents.
In a news statement, Migrante International consolidated the testimony of two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)—Shiela Mabunga and Emmanuel Villanueva—in the complaint it submitted before the House Committee on Ethics on Thursday.
Mabunga is a cook allegedly deployed by Bertiz’s recruitment agency, Global Asia Alliance Consultants Inc. (GAACI), to Dubai in 2014.
In her testimony, she said GAACI illegally deployed her to a different employer not stipulated in her employment contract, where she allegedly suffered maltreatment.
When she sought repatriation from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), she said she was approached by Bertiz on behalf of GAACI.
Mabunga said she complied with Bertiz’s request to prolong her stay in exchange for filing charges against her employer in Dubai and being given assistance for her college education.
She said Bertiz did not honor his commitment, prompting her to file a case against the lawmaker and GAACI at the POEA and the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).
Meanwhile, Villanueva filed the complaint against Bertiz for their “intense confrontation” in January 2017 in Hong Kong during a consultation being conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Villanueva said Bertiz yelled at him and accused him of being an undocumented OFW when he called the attention of the lawmaker for taking too much of their time during the meeting.
Also included in the formal complaint against Bertiz is his involvement in a botched rescue mission in Kuwait, which resulted in a diplomatic row with the Philippines; “relentless justification” of the overseas employment certificate and the OFW ID; and his “conflict of interest” of representing OFWs in Congress while still owning a recruitment agency.
“Because of this, Rep. Aniceto ‘John’ D. Bertiz III has no moral authority to represent us in Congress,” the petition said.
Bertiz has has been drawing criticisms since the previous week when he made a controversial joke at an oath-taking ceremony.
This continued this week when a viral video showed him violating airport security protocol, and his sexist remark when he apologized for the said incident.
These incidents prompted Migrante Hong Kong to launch an online petition against Bertiz at change.org.