The implementation of the recruitment regulation which appointed and empowered the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM) as the sole broker in passing on and facilitating the issuances of visas to Manila recruiting agencies from Saudi companies and employers has been deferred, according to Victor E.R. Fernandez, Jr., president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI). Fernandez said the consensus to defer the implementation of the SANARCOM unified recruitment system was reached on Oct. 14 at the Third RP-KSA Joint Commission (Private Sector) Consultative Meeting in Manila. The meeting was convened under the auspices of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Present during the meeting were representatives from Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), PASEI, Saudi embassy officials and a delegation from SANARCOM. “Instead of the unified contract, it was agreed by all the stakeholders that the Saudi-Philippine Joint Commission shall review and improve the current POEA Standard Employment Contract in order to make it truly and more protective of our overseas workers,” Fernandez said. PASEI, the umbrella organization of over about 800 recruitment and employment agencies, opposed the implementation of the rule, called by SANARCOM as unified contract system. The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, which was mandated to implement the unified contract system, had announced that the new rule, which was then dated July 18, 2008, took effect on August 1 of the same year. Filipino overseas employment agencies viewed the SANARCOM unified contract as tantamount to involuntary servitude because it contained clauses stating that OFWs have no right to reject any work given to him or her and prevents the OFWs from running away even from any oppressive situations unless the SANARCOM and employer finds it justifiable. – SG __
