The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief, Hans Cacdac reiterates that recruitment agencies that sends Filipino domestic helpers abroad are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the protection of their deployed workers.

Cacdac also warned that failure to protect the welfare of the HSWs by commiting violations such as contract substitution, charging of placement fee, etc. would be held accountable by the POEA.

He said,“Failure to abide by their responsibility to protect OFWs warrants cancellation or suspension of their license, depending on the gravity and frequency of the offenses.”

Meanwhile, the administrator of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Carmelita Dimzon recounts the story of Rahima Panayaman, a 23-year old domestic helper who suffered abuses in the hands of her Kuwaiti employer.

Panayaman who is a native of Cotobato City filed a complaint against her employer for the maltreatment she experienced that includes hair pulling which leads to her baldness and pouring of boiling water on her back.

The Kuwaiti employer who is now in prison paid the former domestic helper almost Php2million for the settlement of the case.

Panayaman will also receive assistance from OWWA such as scholarship so she can pursue her studies and an option to avail alternative livelihood benefits.

Cacdac reminded licensed agencies that it is their duty to ensure that the HSWs they send overseas are properly documented and that only the HSWs with the right skills and competencies are deployed.

He revealed that some agencies would opt to take the easier and shorter route in sending HSWs abroad by resorting to several unacceptable tactics such as backdoor exit, hides the hiring of HSWs by stating that the worker would be deployed for another job abroad and using fake documents. Some agencies would also continue to send HSWs to countries where there is an existing deployment or travel ban.