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Fil-Am Groups Support ‘Sentosa 27’U.S.-based Filipino activist groups have converged in support of the “Sentosa 27,” the health workers whose rights as immigrant workers were violated by an employment agency. BY BULATLAT
The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), a national alliance of Filipino organizations in the U.S. with international networks, is spearheading the "Justice for the Sentosa 27" campaign along with said health workers. The campaign also aims to collect unpaid overtime and back wages due the health workers and their lawyer, Sentosa refused to release; have the State of New York investigate the agency’s overseas hiring and work operations; and have U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a NewYork Democrat and Philippine senatorial candidate Michael Defensor explain their roles in the lifting of the suspension of the Sentosa license in Philippines, two weeks after it was ordered by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). An online petition outlining these demands can be found at www.petitiononline.com/j4s27/ . "We arrived in New York in November, in the cold season,” said James Millena, a doctor-turned-nurse who revealed that he was assigned to handle 100 patients by himself throughout his shift. “ We were brought to the staff house where we were stay for two months for free and save money we need when we move to an apartment. When we got there, Dr. Jacinto (the famous topnotcher doctor-turned-topnotcher nurse) and I shared the room with other Filipino nurses. We took turns sleeping on the bed and on the floor. It wasn't comfortable, but I didn't complain. I told myself, if Dr. Jacinto who topped the board exams is not complaining, I shouldn't be complaining.” NAFCON lauded the “Sentosa 27,” as the health workers are now called, for “standing up to Goliath" in the defense of their rights as immigrant workers and as Filipinos. Stories of how Filipino workers, particularly health professionals, suffer in the hands of their employers in the U.S. circulate from time to time. "For the first time, health professionals bravely came out to fight for what is right,” U.S. community lawyer Merit Salud said in a statement of support to the Sentosa 27. The World Health Organization (WHO) has cited the Philippines as the “largest source of registered nurses working overseas.” They also cite that there are about 15,000 nurses who leave the Philippines annually to be farmed out to 30 different countries. The U.S. remains the top destination for Filipino nurses, who train aggressively under the Philippine government’s labor export policy. ”We are launching this campaign with our international friends to expose failures in the U.S. government’s domestic policies on immigration and labor and the Philippine government's domestic policies in outmigration and protecting the basic rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers,” said Berna Ellorin, special commissioner on Philippine Affairs for NAFCON and secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance)-USA. International carriers of the “Justice for the Sentosa 27” campaign include the Philippine-based Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), Migrante International, Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), and Bayan-Philippines. U.S.-based carriers include labor groups as well as Filipino-American groups spanning over 23 cities under NAFCON. The Philippine Forum conferred the Gawad Bulosan (Bulosan Award) to the Sentosa 27 “for their bravery and courage” to fight for their rights as immigrant workers. The award is given annually in honor of Filipino immigrant worker Carlos Bulosan who became a celebrated writer-activist in the U.S. in the 1930s and 1940s. Schumer wrote the Philippines Government after an order for preventive suspension was issued to the Sentosa Recruitment Agency, the Philippine branch of Sentosa Care Group. Acting on the U.S. senator’s letter, Defensor called POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz. The “Sentosa 27” acquired copies of the said correspondences. "We came to America, like most Filipinos, in search of the better life," said Maricelle Dealo, one of the “Sentosa 27.” Bulatlat ( categories: )
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NEW YORK – At the end of a town hall meeting at the Philippine Forum headquarters last May 13, individuals and groups officially kicked off National Nurses Week in the U.S. with vows to clear the 27 former Sentosa-employed health workers, including one of their lawyers Felix Vinluan, from all criminal and civil charges filed against them by the former, officially registered as Sentosa Care LLC and its various health care facilities in New York.