DOHA: A Philippine labour official has urged Filipino victims of contract substitution to lodge complaints and assured that erring recruitment agencies and individuals will be penalised.
Philippine Overseas Employment Administrator, Atty Hans Leo J Cacdac, said even if a victim does not file a complaint, POEA can file a case against the violator.
“We have motu proprio action; even if the person does not complain as long as they send us the document and if we find there is violation, we lodge a case without the complainant,” Cacdac said, adding people can connect them on social media, through email or the website.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the second Philippines-Qatar Joint Committee meeting on labour matters, he said, “In the Philippines, we hold recruitment agencies up to very high standard because they are sending people to other countries, they have to deal with protecting people, so rest assured, violators would be punished in accordance with rules and regulations.”
Contract substitution, a rampant practice among manpower agencies, was among the issues discussed at the meeting.
A standard employment contract was adopted following the signing of the 2008 Additional Protocol between Qatar and the Philippines.
The standard contract, Cacdac said, has to have approvals by the Philippines and Qatar through their embassies and the worker should not sign the contract without approval of both governments, he said.
“The standard employment contract aims to solve contract substitution; the law is there and it’s just an issue of implementation.”
He said Qatar’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has urged the Philippine embassy and Philippine Overseas Labour Office to continue helping household service workers (HSWs) and that they are welcome to endorse HSWs who need help.
The Philippine and Qatari sides have agreed to share the lists of blacklisted recruitment agencies, individuals and good companies, he said.
The Peninsula
