While families of Sentosa 27++ made efforts to attend the hearing despite the bad weather, representatives from concerned government agencies and the Sentosa Agency, did not show up during the Senate’s first inquiry regarding the case.

BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
MIGRANT WATCH
Vol. VII, No. 43, Dec. 2-8, 2007

After Sentosa representatives, foreign affairs and labor officials did not appear at the first hearing on Nov. 27, Senator Jinggoy Estrada said the Committee on Labor conducting an investigation on the Sentosa 27++ case would subpoena all concerned individuals and government agencies in its next hearing in January 2008.

Estrada said they need to hear the side of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), Sentosa, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to get into the bottom of the case. “On the part of DFA, anong ginawang tulong o assistance to our nurses. On the part of DOLE, gusto ko malaman ung status ng kaso kasi naka-pending sa kanila. And ‘yung owner ng Sentosa, kung ano talaga ‘yung mechanics. Kung bakit OK dito ‘yung kontrata ng nurses, pagdating doon iba na ‘yung pinupuntahang trabaho as agreed upon sa contract,” (On the part of the DFA, what support or assistance did they give to the nurses? On the part of DOLE, I want to know the status of the case because it is still pending with them. And with the owner of Sentosa, I would want to know the mechanics. Why is it that the contract of the nurses seemed okay here; but when they arrived there, the work being given to them was different from what was agreed upon in the contract.) explained the senator.

Originally, there were 26 nurses and a physical therapist who filed charges against their employer SentosaCare LLC for workplace abuse, withheld wages, and large-scale breach of contract that allegedly constitute massive illegal recruitment. The number of nurses joining the campaign has been increasing thus renamed as Sentosa 27++.

Ten of them, former nurses with Avalon Gardens Nursing Home in Long Island who resigned from their positions as contract nurses with the SentosaCare LLC, and their counsel Felix Vinluan, collectively known as the Avalon 11, are facing criminal charges of patient endangerment filed by the Sentosacare LLC and its owner Bent Philipson. The nurses however said they have written documentation proving they did not walkout on their patients mid-shift, but completed their shifts before submitting their resignation letters to the Sentosa-owned Avalon Gardens in Long Island.

No show

While families of Sentosa 27++ made efforts to attend the hearing despite the bad weather, representatives from concerned government agencies and the Sentosa Agency, did not show up during the Senate’s first hearing of the case.

From the government side, only POEA Deputy Administrator for Licensing and Adjudication Hans Leo Cacdac and Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs of the Department of Justice (DoJ) Teresita Reyes-Domingo attended the hearing. The families of the Sentosa 27++ were accompanied by Migrante International secretary general Maita Santiago, Dr. Leah Paquiz of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), and the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW).

The families intended to confront Francis Luyun, the owner of the Sentosa Recruitment Agency here in the Philippines, for the alleged illegal contracts and POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz for the reinstatement of a previous license suspension on Sentosa. Baldoz allegedly lifted the suspension after she received a call from then Executive Secretary Mike Defensor, who allegedly intervened on Sentosa’s behalf.

In a privilege speech last congress, Senator Aquilino Pimentel accused Defensor of asking Baldoz to lift the suspension order on Sentosa. Pimentel likewise revealed that United States Senator Charles Schumer wrote Baldoz and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo concerning the suspension of Sentosa.

Estrada said they invited Defensor but the latter failed to attend since he received the invitation only in the afternoon of the day the hearing was to be held. But the Senator relayed that Defensor assured them he will attend the next hearing.

Though a representative of the POEA attended the hearing in the person of Deputy Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, he denied any knowledge about the alleged call from Defensor. On the other hand, Assistant Sec. Teresita Reyes-Domingo of the DoJ said that the POEA erred in lifting the suspension of Sentosa and that the DoJ has already drafted a letter to the POEA concerning this.

Assistance

When Sen. Panfilo Lacson asked Reyes-Domingo if the DOJ through the DFA could extend legal assistance to the Sentosa nurses, she answered in the positive citing particular provisions of the Migrant Workers’ Act.

Lacson said help from the government is very crucial at this point after learning from the parents that some of the nurses are underemployed while some are unemployed. They are also facing administrative and criminal charges in the U.S..

“We are the government, they are our citizens. Now that they clearly needed help, we must take it upon ourselves to really help out. We always mention that OFWs are instrumental to our economic growth. Even if it’s just one or two or three of them, we must not take the risk of adding to the number of victims of abuse and injustices,” he said.

During the hearing, the families inquired about the P 1million ($23,391 at an exchange rate of $1=P42.75) legal assistance fund promised by the DFA. The DFA replied that they have already disbursed $25,000. But according to the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), an organization of Filipino-Americans assisting the nurses in New York, only P100, 000 ($2,339) could be accounted for. NAFCON also said that the legal aid from the Philippine government is the result of approximately “one year of arduous campaigning and pressuring by people’s organizations led by NAFCON, which 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.”

Besides financial support, NAFCON said the Arroyo administration “should exert more political effort to clear all the nurses of the civil and criminal charges against them.” But for NAFCON, Defensor’s alleged intervention and Sentosa’s continued operation summarize the position of the Arroyo government, that it is “Pro-Sentosa, Pro-Illegal Recruitment, and Anti-Migrant Rights.”

Continued support

“We plan on following up on this and would hold the DOJ accountable to its promises,” said Santiago after the hearing. Migrante International is working in close coordination with the NAFCON.

“We are very disappointed that it had to take the efforts of organizations of Filipino-Americans such as NAFCON and that of Migrante International to bring the case of the Sentosa 27++ to the attention of the media and the government. In making the international and local community aware of the case, we also raised questions regarding the integrity of the Labor Export Policy in the Philippines. But like cowards, the government representatives who are the promoters of labor export did not have the decency to appear in this much anticipated Senate hearing,” said NAFCON executive vice president Rico Foz. “This is demoralizing to the Sentosa nurses’ families and it stalls 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.”

The hearing of the case of the Avalon 11 in Suffolk County, in Long Island, New York is set on Dec. 17. NAFCON and other supporters plan to mobilize on that day to call for the dropping of all the charges against the Avalon 11.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Women’s Party Representatives Luz Ilagan and Liza Maza have filed Resolution No. 181 calling for the House of Representatives to conduct a similar inquiry on the case of the Sentosa 27++ through its committees on overseas workers affairs, and labor and employment. Bulatlat

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