Press Statement
Phillipines
12 March 2003
Reference: Ramon Bultron, Managing Director
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
Unified contract in Saudi brings legal slavery
OFWs hold Labor Secretary Sto. Tomas accountable
It is high time for Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas to stop washing her hands off of anti-migrant policies that she
has either instigated or has been a party in its conception.
The Saudi Arabia National Recruitment Committee Unified Contract (SANARCOM-UC) has again exhibited the propensity of the
Labor Secretary and her office to divert the flak that her irresponsible moves have caused the OFWs in the Kingdom.
Contrary to the claims that the Secretary and the DOLE has no part in the Unified Contract, OFWs in KSA have reported
that Sto. Tomas even boasted to them that she has discussed the said policy with Saudi Labor officials in her visit in
May 2002.
How can Sto. Tomas and the DOLE then maintain a "hands off" response to the Unified Contract when her "chop" is written
all over it?
At the very least, the Secretary is very much aware of the plan to implement the said contract. In the maximum, even if
we grant that it is a transaction between private recruitment agencies, a green light has been given by the Secretary
for it is the DOLE that supervises and monitors policies of Philippine recruiters.
As the head of office, Secretary Sto. Tomas must be held accountable for the implementation of UC. Even to claim
distance from the matter is an abandonment of OFWs to whom her office is directed to provide protection from
exploitative working conditions exemplified by the Unified Contract.
Secretary Sto. Tomas must stop playing the innocent and, for once, face the music and suffer the consequences of her
rash actions.
The Unified Contract is a scheme that institutionalizes the rampant contract substitution in KSA. Contract substitution
is the practice of giving OFWs, upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, a fresh contract different than what they have processed
in the POEA. The "substitute contract" is very much unlike the Model Employment Contract of the POEA that sets the
benchmark in wage and other benefits that OFWs should receive. Because of the inhuman provisions of the "substitute
contract", many OFWs are forced to run away from their employers and become stranded.
This is the legal slavery that Sto. Tomas and the DOLE have surrendered our OFWs into. This is the fate of the OFWs that
Sto. Tomas must answer for. Whatever her name implies, Sto. Tomas is hardly a saint but a modern Pontius Pilate.
The Unified Contract is a replay of the POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 1 Series of 2001 signed last March 5, 2001
by Philippine Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas recognizing the agreement made between private recruitment agencies in
the Philippines and Taiwan to legalize the collection of exorbitant placement fees on Filipino overseas workers bound
for Taiwan. Through Sto. Tomas' insufferable penchant for selling OFWs at whatever cost, Filipinos in Taiwan are now
bled dry by recruiters on top of the NT$5,000 wage cut impose by the Taiwan government in 2001.
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) urges President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to act for the scrapping of the
Unified Contract and lobby the Saudi government to institutionalize protective mechanisms for migrant workers in the
Kingdom. We demand that the Philippine government, instead of being a party to giving slavery a modern face, provide the
needed services for OFWs such as negotiating for higher and on-time payment of wages, shelter for male and female
stranded workers, and speedy repatriation for OFWs in distress.
Finally, if Secretary Sto. Tomas is so eager to keep her hands off her responsibility of protecting OFWs, we are more
than eager to see her completely off the office that she has held so irresponsibly.#
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Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) c/o Kowloon Union Church No. 4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR Telephone:
(852) 2723-7536 Fax: (852) 2735-4559 E-mail: apmm@hknet.com
"We dream of a society where families are not broken up by urgent need for survival. We dream and will actively work for
a homeland where there is opportunity for everyone to live a decent and humane life."
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