Migrante raps POEA ruling on ‘Sentosa 27’
By Jerome Aning
Inquirer
First Posted 11:20pm (Mla time) 09/12/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The Migrante International overseas Filipinos alliance on Wednesday denounced the decision of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) dismissing the illegal recruitment case filed by 27 Filipino health professionals against the Sentosa Recruitment Agency (SRA).
Migrante chair Connie Bragas-Regalado refused to accept the ruling of POEA administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz that found no merit in the complainants’ charge of recruitment law violations against Sentosa.
“Mrs. Baldoz exacerbates the injustices already suffered by theses nurses and health professionals. The collusion between POEA and SRA in this case is palpable. Sentosa is clearly guilty of misrepresentation, contract substitution and a range of contract violations,” Regalado said in a statement.
The complainants -- dubbed the “Sentosa 27” -- were recruited from Manila to work in the US by SRA. They walked out of their work places in April 2006 and filed charges against SRA, accusing the firm of misrepresentation in their recruitment, substitution of contracts, withholding of salaries and other recruitment law violations.
The case gained national attention because of reports -- later denied by Baldoz -- that former presidential chief-of-staff Mike Defensor tried to intervene in the lifting of the suspension of SRA’s recruitment activities by the POEA..
Among the complainants was Elmer Jacinto, who placed first in the medical board exams and then made the controversial decision to work as a nurse in the United States.
Regalado called the timing of the POEA decision “highly dubious.”
“After sitting on the case for more than a year, it’s suspicious that the decision comes out more days after Sentosa’s spin that the discrimination charge against them was dismissed in the US,” she added.
She recalled that according POEA rules and regulations, decisions on illegal recruitment cases are to be released within 90 days of the filing of the complaint. The case was filed with the POEA in May 2006.
Baldoz’s decision followed that of the US justice department’s dismissal of a separate complaint by the 27 health care professionals of unfair immigration-related employment practices against Sentosa Care LLC, SRA’s New York-based mother company.
Regalado, however, said the complainants’ lawyer Felix Vinluan has denied the reported US DOJ decision.
“The reports [of the charges being dismissed] are misleading and untrue. Far from being dismissed, the discrimination cases are now with the US DOJ’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer,” she quoted Vinluan as saying.
Migrante vowed to continue fighting for the complainants, and has backed Gabriela party-list Representative Luz Ilagan’s resolution demanding a congressional inquiry on the case.
In the US, Regalado said the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns will be leading the “Justice for Sentosa 27” campaign. An international petition for the group has also gathered more than 2,000 signatures, she said.
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