Jordan-RP pact to benefit OFWs at end-of-job stage

AMMAN, Jordan – Philippine officials here are finalizing a landmark agreement with the Jordanian government that would end abuse of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom.

Philippine Ambassador to Jordan Julius Torres said over the weekend that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would possibly cut down the cases of abuse against OFWs here. He said the MOU would fix the minimum age requirement for domestic helpers at 30 years old for starters to keep minors out.

Torres said the MOU will also include introduction of a system of blacklisting Jordanian recruiters and employers who have maltreated OFWs in the past; prohibition against Jordanian employers or recruiters confiscation of the passport of the OFW upon arrival; and requirement of Jordanian employers to attend a briefing to familiarize themselves with the maid’s culture to avoid cultural clashes.

Torres said they have already sought dialogues with their Sri Lankan and Indonesian counterparts to get data on Jordanian employers who maltreated Sri Lankan or Indon workers. He said the passports of OFWs could be entrusted to the Philippine embassy for safekeeping instead of the Jordanian employers holding on to them.

Torres said negotiations on the MOU is already on its advanced stage and the agreement could be submitted for signing to the Jordanian government in October during the international migrant forum to be hosted by the country.

Once fully implemented, Torres said the MOU could lead to the lifting of the Philippine government’s ban on the deployment of workers to Jordan imposed in January after a rise in the number of runaway OFWs complaining of maltreatement or rape. "The ban just increased the number of illegal recruiters. If I had been here, I would not have recommended it," said Torres who had just been posted in Jordan recently.

Torres said the labor center in Jordan is at present already sheltering 116 runaway OFWs who fled their bosses due to abuse. Of this number, only 12 have documents and entered Jordan through legal channels.

Senate president Manuel Villar, who was in Jordan to personally fetch some 23 distressed OFWs who ran away from their Jordanian employers, supported the MOU but stressed that it should be adopted in all countries where there are many Filipino workers. "Mas maganda kung sa lahat ng mga bansa na may OFW mayroon nito," he said.

Villar said government should choose at least five host-countries with a large concentration of Filipino workers to test-case the MOU and from there spread out to smaller countries by adding more manpower and resources.

Villar arrived Saturday night here and met with his Senate counterpart Jordanian Senate president Zeid Rifai Sunday to follow up on the MOU and on the plight of OFWs in the Kingdom. Villar said they discussed the general features of the MOU but left ticklish issues to the labor and embassy officials here for fine-tuning with their Jordanian counterparts.

He also made a sidetrip to Bahrain Saturday afternoon and met with 64 other distressed OFWs at the embassy’s welfare center who all want to come home. The latest batch Villar is bringing home from Jordan includes 10 are minors – the youngest being 15 – who entered Jordan with fake passports. He said he would initially work on bringing 10 of the 64 in Bahrain. "Marami pa akong iuuwi. Tuloy-tuloy na ito. They (his detractors) could criticize me but I don’t care."

Villar is currently under siege by some of his peers in the Senate for a controversial road project. – Dennis Gadil