Recruitment agencies in Manila have rejected a new Saudi embassy regulation requiring them to route work-visa processing work through the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM). Under the new rule, dated July 18, 2008 and effective from Aug. 1, 2008, the embassy in Manila will process work visas submitted by recruitment offices in Manila only if they produce a copy of a contract from SANARCOM, a committee of Saudi recruitment establishments which was created by the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. “This unified contract appointing SANARCOM to filter and broker the recruitment of Filipino workers bound for Saudi Arabia is ... against the interest of Filipino workers bound for Saudi Arabia,” said Victor E.R. Fernandez, Jr., president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI), the Philippines' biggest land-based association providing overseas jobs. Speaking by telephone from Manila, Fernandez said that under the SANARCOM unified contract, approved Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) employment contracts will not be honored by SANARCOM even though they are verified and attested by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah. According to Fernandez, “SANARCOM wants to impose their own contracts written in Arabic and enforce it in Saudi Arabia after the workers arrive, regardless of the contracts the workers sign in Manila.” He said that “PASEI views the SANARCOM unified contract as tantamount to involuntary servitude, which states that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have no right to reject any work given to him or her and which prevents OFWS from running away even from any oppressive situation unless SANARCOM and the employer concerned finds it justifiable.” “It is unconscionable to prevent someone from escaping from unbearable work conditions or from employers who fail to pay wages,” Fernandez said. The PASEI president said the unified contract was a creation of SANARCOM and “a retaliatory action” after it lost the Filipino domestic helper market in the wake of DOLE/POEA's imposition of a minimum US$400 monthly salary for house help. PASEI said the new rule adds another layer to the recruitment process and hence more expenses for trecruiter and employer. “Anyway, most former OFWs are experiencing Saudi employment fatigue now,” Fernandez said, “and they are slowly moving to other booming labor markets in the Middle East like Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain where higher salaries are on offer.” __
