Press Statement
November 29, 2007
Reference: Rico Foz, Executive Vice President, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), email: nafconusa@yahoo.com
RP Gov't Disbursement of Financial Aid for Sentosa 27++ is an Outcome of the People's Pressuring, and Not an Act of Benevolence
The recent disbursement of $25,000 of legal aid from the office of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Sentosa 27++ nurses is the result of approximately one year of arduous campaigning and pressuring of people's organizations led by NAFCON that organized street mobilizations, fora, and even confronted the President outside her posh hotel when she paid a visit to New York City for the United Nations Assembly last September. It must not ever assumed that this disbursement would have come out of the natural benevolence of the Philippine government to assist its hard-working migrants overseas.
The Arroyo administration, and the administration's before her, has no concrete track record of being migrant-friendly or cognizant of alleviating migrant woes and oppressions overseas. The Arroyo administration, hassled by bad press piling up starting with her human rights record, had no choice but to save face by caving in to the people's pressure that the Sentosa 27++ and their families' demands be heard. If not for the endless media campaigning and struggle to keep the case of the Sentosa 27++ alive in both the Philippines and US-based press, the Arroyo government most likely would not have budged given what it values most is the fact that OFW's are remittance-earners and top supporters of her economy, rather than viewing OFW's as human beings with basic rights that should be protected by their government, even if they are abroad.
The recent Philippine Senate hearing called for by Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Panfilo Lacson and the upcoming House hearing called for by Representatives Luz Ilagan and Liza Maza must also be seen in the context that it was people's pressuring from both the Philippines and the United States that paved the way for these hearings to take place.
The Department of Foreign Affairs' (DFA) recent promise of P1 million of financial aid to the Sentosa 27++ nurses and their families must also been seen under the same light. Of the P1 million promised by the DFA, only P100, 000 can be accounted for as being disbursed. When the nurses' families confronted the government officials who appeared before the Senate this week, they claimed the total sum had been disbursed by the DFA.
The Sentosa 27++ nurses are being given the standard run-around of dishonesty by the DFA and the Philippine government. Clearly corruption is looming in this case, and someone else is pocketing the money. The offer of P1 million by the DFA equates to roughly $23,000 in US dollars. If one takes into account the lavish stipends given to Philippine consular officers such as Washington Ambassador William Gaa and New York-based Philippine Consulate General Cecilia Rebong, who are routinely disbursed tens of thousands dollars by the DFA to sustain their extravagant and Imeldific lifestyles, one would see that P1 million is mere chump change for the DFA, and that the Sentosa 27++ deserve more given the circumstances surrounding their case.
The Arroyo government is not intent or sincere in helping the Sentosa 27++ nurses. Besides financial support, it should exert more political effort to clear all the nurses of the civil and criminal charges against them. In fact, the wrong-sided political intervention of Arroyo's then-executive secretary Mike Defensor to have Philippine Overseas Employment Agency Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz lift the suspension she had placed on the recruitment license of the Sentosa Recruitment Agency, who issued en masse the fraudulent contracts to the Sentosa 27++ and continues to operate till this day, best summarizes the true position of the Arroyo government-- Pro-Sentosa, Pro-Illegal Recruitment, and Anti-Migrant Rights.
On December 17, the 11 out of the 27 facing criminal charges of patient abandonment in Long Island, New York will start the criminal proceedings. As we have done in the past, as one of the first and truest supporters of the Sentosa 27++, the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) will offer their full support to the Avalon 11 and mobilize a contingent to the Suffolk County Court House to demand that the criminal charges be dropped.
For their bravery amidst adversity, we salute the Sentosa 27++ nurses for their united stand against corporate greed, illegal recruitment, modern-day slavery, and the Philippine government's criminal negligence of our overseas Filipino workers.
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News Release
November 28, 2007
Reference: Rico Foz, Executive Vice President, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON)
Sentosa, RP Officials Snub Nurses' Families by Not Showing Up to Senate Hearing
Families seek P1 million promised by the DFA for Sentosa 27++
Manila-- The families of the Sentosa 27++ nurses were greeted by a grand no-show of major players in their relatives' cases during yesterday's scheduled Philippine Senate hearing on the illegal recruitment case of the Sentosa 27++ called for by Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ping Lacson.
The families showed up to testify on behalf of their relatives, the Sentosa 27++ nurses, appeal to the Senate for a stiffer investigation and confront Francis Luyun, the owner of the Sentosa Recruitment Agency that recruited the 27 Filipino healthcare professionals under illegal contracts a few years back. They were also intent on confronting Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) administrator Rosalinda Baldoz, who reinstated a previous license suspension on Sentosa when she received a call from then Executive Secretary Mike Defensor, who allegedly intervened on Sentosa's behalf due to political connections.
The families were accompanied by members of Migrante International, an overseas alliance of Filipino migrant organizations that has been working under the leadership of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) in the United States. Attending supporters included Dr. Leah Paquiz for the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) and the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW).
Significantly absent from the RP government's end were Defensor, Baldoz, and even Luyun, who claimed he was out of the country. Present for the POEA was its deputy administrator of licensing and adjudication Hans Leo Cacdac, and assistant secretary for legislative affairs for the Department of Justice (DOJ) Teresita Reyes-Domingo. Others scheduled to sent representatives were the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), but neither government agency sent anyone.
NAFCON and Migrante found the massive absence a grand show of cowardice on part of the Philippine government and Sentosa Recruitment Agency, prompting a rescheduling of the Senate hearing in early 2008. In order to avoid future significant absences, Estrada vowed to issue subpoenas, requiring everyone to show up.
During the skeletal Senate session the families pressured to know where the rest of the promised money from the DFA, approximately P1 million, was. The DFA has already issued $25k in legal aid for the Sentosa nurses, most of which still reside and work in New York.
When pressured about Baldoz's decision to lift the suspension she had previously issued against Sentosa, Cacdac claimed not knowing about the call from Defensor, while the DOJ's Reyes-Domingo agreed that that lift should not have taken place, and that the DOJ has already drafted a decision on this POEA error that just needs a signature.
"We plan on following up on this and holding the DOJ accountable to its promises," states Maita Santiago, Secretary General for Migrante International, working in close coordination with NAFCON.
"We are very disappointed that the international campaign worked very hard to raise the media profile of this urgent matter, to raise questions about the integrity of the Labor Export Policy in the Philippines; and yet, like cowards, the very government proponents did not have the decency to appear in this much anticipated Senate hearing. This intends to demoralize the Sentosa nurses' families and stall the path to justice even more. But the Sentosa nurses and their families will not allow this roadblock to stop them. They are united and determined more than ever to make sure justice is served," states NAFCON executive vice president Rico Foz.
Meanwhile, in Long Island, New York, the Avalon 11-- the 11 out of the 27 nurses criminally charged with patient endangerment after resigning from their posts last year-- are set for their criminal hearing in Suffolk County on December 17th. NAFCON and other supporters plan on mobilizing a support contingent calling for the court to drop all the charges to the courthouse on the same day. ###
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