Saturday, June 29, 2013

RED HOT CHILI: Sex for flight scandal

RED HOT CHILI: Sex for flight scandal
by Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
Emnail: bdsaguing@gmail.com      Mobile  +39 335 6880613

News items:  Akusado sa ‘sex-for-flight scam’ sa Saudi isasalang na sa probe – DOLE spokesma                          Wife of embattled PHL labor attache in sex abuse scandal defends husband                                           DOLE: Labor exec in sex abuse raps to face probers after arriving from Saudi                                                          PHL to send female welfare officers to MidEast amid sex abuse scandal

 

 

 


The involvement of staff and officials in the Philippine’s foreign posts, surely, has became the hottest topic among the Filipino migrant workers around the world today. It stands up like a sore thumb, both for the government agencies involved and for the migrant workers themselves. This development pierced the heart of the OFWs around the world for now, they face the truth: they have nowhere to go when in trouble in foreign lands. The only haven they know is proving more an enemy than a friend.


It is unfolding, the trouble is centered more on DOLE officials. Resource centers are managed by the POLO. The officials involved are POLO officials. The phrase “POEA is the biggest recruiter” and “the Philippine government is the biggest human trafficker” seems to be not just a pun after all. It is becoming a reality.


To remedy the situation, DOLE has hurriedly announced it will prosecute the involved officials. But it has a catch: if they could find  complainants. Two days ago, Migrante International, a Filipino migrant migrants’ right watchdog, has communicated to DOLE the incident that the accused officials from Riyadh is cohersing the female OFW wards in the shelter of the PE Riyadh to sign an affidavit refuting the accusations. And, sure enough, the news of OFWs supporting the accused official came out the next day! The problem is that the would be complainants are still wards of the POLO overseas and are scared to go forward in the open. In this case, the probes may turn out to be just a show. No justice could ber reached.


The problem of the slow repatriation of distressed OFWs many of whom are inside the POLO shelters is another thorn that throbs. Many of the would be accusers are among them, if the snail phased process of repatriarion continues, there would be no accusers present in the Philippines. The accusers will be buried in the shelters. What’s more, this slow process of repatriation has made the OFWs in distress very ripe for the abuses of POLO officials as proven by the sex scandals.  The officials were able to scare the women OFWs into prostituting them with these officials as pimps. The only solution here is to repatriate all distressed OFWs in wholesale numbers, one thing that the embassy officials said that they can not do.



And sending female officials to replace the suspect males may not be too effective. IT IS NOT THE SEX OF THE OFFICIALS that can guarantee the efficacy of their service, it is their proffessionalism and dedication to service determines their worth.


###

No comments:

Post a Comment