Nurses in illegal recruitment case in New York face inquest
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:52pm (Mla time) 08/22/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- Ten of the 27 Filipino health-care professionals who filed a case of illegal recruitment against the New York-based Sentosa Recruitment Agency will face an inquest hearing August 22 (New York time), the head of a Filipino migrant organization said.
In a phone interview, Connie Bragas Regalado, Migrante international chairperson, said the inquest hearing would determine the merits of a criminal case filed against these Filipinos by the nursing home where they used to work and which formed part of the Sentosa Care Group network of nursing homes in the state.
“[The criminal case] is simply Sentosa’s retaliation against them. The administrative charges against them have already been dismissed,” she said.
The 10 nurses are among the 26 nurses and one physical therapist, known as the Sentosa 27, who filed illegal recruitment charges against Sentosa last year. They also filed a class action suit in New York against their employer, Sentosa Care Group, for breach of contract.
Among the Sentosa 27 is Elmer Jacinto, who topped the medical licensure exam in 2006 but opted to become a nurse instead since it is considered a more lucrative profession abroad.
The class suit was filed with the United States’ Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in Washington D.C.
Regalado also criticized the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for its inaction on the illegal recruitment raps filed by the Filipino health workers here.
“It has been 17 months since the Sentosa 27 filed their case with the POEA and still, no decision has been released. We believe this delay, coupled with a possible criminal case in the US, is aggravating the already traumatic plight of these health professionals,” she said.
“Why is justice so slow? That's why we welcome the resolution filed by Senator [Panfilo] Lacson to look into the reasons for the POEA’s delay in this case,” she said.
On Friday, when asked about the case, POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said there was no decision yet.
Quoting Sentosa 27’s lawyer Felix Vinluan, Regalado said the case before POEA was for illegal substitution of contract and misrepresentation because the agency made the nurses work as agency nurses instead of being direct-hirees with the homes that sponsored their working visas to the US.
She said the alleged intervention of Malacañang, through then presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor, and US Senator Charles Schumer, also needed to be resolved.
“POEA lifted the temporary ban it imposed on Sentosa soon after it received a phone call from Secretary Defensor and a letter from Senator Schumer…The victims’ demands is that the agency’s operation be shut down. But Sentosa continues to entice nurses to work in the US with false promises,” Regalado said.
A lawyer of Sentosa in the country had argued that the health workers endangered the lives of their patients, when they abandoned their jobs.
He said Sentosa had reason to feel aggrieved because the health workers were given green cards as part of their contracts.
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