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By SAMUEL P. MEDENTLLAT @sam_medehi a Governing Board (GB), said in a
separate phone interview the new
issuance will make the existing
NSITE inspection on the status regular monitoring procedures
for Philippine recruitment agen-
of overseas Filipino workers cies (PRA) and foreign recruitment
(OFWs) will soon be made agencies (FRA) much stricter.
Under the new arrangement.
mandatory by the Philippine Overseas FRAs will nowbe made tovisit the
deployed OFWs in theirresPective
Employment Administration (POEA) workplaces to checkon theirstatus.
They will then transmit the re-
to ensure their welfare abroad.
suspension lof their license to op'
eratel," Olalia said
He explained that thejoint soli-
dary liability rule will ensure that
PRAs of FRAS, which will fail to
conduct on-sitevisits,willalso face
sanction from POEA.
MOA enfotcement
LABOR Secretary and POEA-GB
Chairman Silvestre H. Bello III ear-
lier said the measure is part of their
.

port to their counterPart PRAs so initiative to ensure that the provi-

it could be reported to POEAvia its sion ofthe 2018 Philippine-Kuwait
new online reporting system. " Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
In a phone interview, POEA ad- the newpolicyso it couldbe imple- "The report should be based on [or the protection of Filipino house-
ministrator Bernard P. Olalia told mented by recruitment agencies. actual knowledge on rhe condi- hold service workers (HSW) will be
BusINEssMIRRoRtheywill be com- Estrelita S. Hizon, Private Sec- tion of the OFWs.... Those which implemented.
ing up with the guidelines regarding tor Representative at the POEA will not be able to submit will face sBE "PoEA,"A2

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He said the labor attach6s will
verify the rePorts submitted bY
PRAs and the FRAs.
Bello issued the statement
amid allegations from the Trade
Union Congress of the PhiliPPines
(TUCP) that the decision of POEA
to remove the Partial dePloYrnent
ban last week for Kuwait, clesPite
the pending full comPliance bYthe
Kuwaiti qovernment with the set
conditiois for its lifting, favored
iecruiters,
Bello earlier said the ban will
onlv be lifted once the Kuwaiti
eov'ernment fullY imPlements the
I018 MoA, ttecessarY charges
"nd
are filed against the peoplebehind
the killing of Jeanelyn Villavende,
aFilipino HSW, inDecember 2019'
POEA imposed the Partial de-
ploymentban last month aftdi the
reported brutal killing of Villav-
ende in Kuwait.
In a statement, TUCP President
Raymond Mendoza questioned
POEAs decision; claimingthere are
still "contentious items" in Philip-
pine talks with the Kuwaiti offi-
cials with regard to the Protection
of OFWs in Kuwait. Among these
is Kuwait's demand that Manila
stop operating half-waY homes for
"runaway" OFW9. : "The committee will summon
He also saidjustice has Yet to be
secured forVillavende even if Bello
said that "aPProPriate" charges
* PAo. 'Atqo
L<)
were already filed against her sus-
pected killers.
Premature lifting
ON ThursdaY, a video of Bello an-
nouncingbef ore recruitment repre-
sentatives the POEA-GB resolution
lifting the ban sParked criticism
from migrant advocates' includ-
ins Mendoza.
i'Bello
[arrnooncingl the Iifting
of the ban in his meeting with lo-
cal recruitment agencies leaves a
bad taste in our mouths. This is a
disservice to our President's advo-
cacy for OFW rights and welfare'
It is glaring in so manY instances
that the DOLE/POEA Places the
busineqs interest of recruiters
firstwhile the welfare of HSWs an
afterthought," Mendoza said in a
- stat€ment:
Bello denied the allegations of
Mendoza. He saidstatingthe POEA
GBdecision was basedon their con-
sultations with the DePartment
of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and their
assessment ofthe Kuwaiti govern-
ment's compliance with their set
conditions.
Mendoza, who is also the con-
current rePresentative of the
TUCP partY-list in Congress and
the chairman of the House Com-
mittee on Overseas Workers Af-
fairs, saidhe wirll ask the POEA GB
to explain its side on the matter'
Bello anil the POEA officials and
members of the board this week,"
Mendoza said.