UAE-based recruitment agencies ask PH Senate to review OFW bill carefully

DUBAI: A group of over 50 recruitment agencies based in rhe United Arab Emirates (UAE) and facilitating deployment of overseas Filipino workers from the Philippines to the country has cautioned not to go in haste about legislation creating the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (DOFWs).

“Huwag pong apurahin; pag-aralan pong mabuti,” said Rosalie Uzzaman, vice president of the 50-member-strong Cooperation Among Filipino Foreign Recruitment Agencies (CAFFRA).

The group said the set-up of the planned department as well as the role to be played by recruitment agencies remains unclear.

“Hindi clear kung paano iha-handle. Gusto naming making kung paano ang magiging set-up,” another CAFFRA official said, citing, for instance, areas of money claims due to unpaid wages.

CAFFRA said a government agency that would solely work on issues about OFWs has been on the drawing table since the administration of the President Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s when the Philippine opened the floodgates of overseas employment that has resulted to the Filipino diaspora.

“Hindi nakayanan ng gobyerno ang volume ng problema,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity said.

Uzzaman meantime said over time it has been the recruitment agencies that have served as buffer whenever cases of abused OFWs would come up. “Without recruitment agencies, paano mapo-protektahan? Kami ang nagiging go-between sa pagitan ng employer at ng OFW. Kung walang recruitment agency, walang OFWs,” Uzzaman, who said she has been in the recruitment business for about 25 years, said.