Answers to Rigoberto Tiglao's Queries on Saudization

From: braggito

Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2011 10:23 AM

To: Inquirer email [mailto:tiglao.inquirer@gmail.com] 

Subject: RE: Query on Saudization

Dear Mr. Tiglao,

Thank you for your email. I used to see you only on TV, briefing the media on the programs of the then PGMA, the best president our country has ever produced.

Saudi Arabian government banned the entry and visa processing of the household workers because they could not agree on the minimum wage. The Philippine government is asking the Saudi Government to impose a USD. 400 while the Saudi Government could only give USD. 200. I think it was around Ramadan last year that the ban on deployment started. The Saudi government only formalized it on 2 July 2011. The ban on deployment of household help has nothing to do with the Saudization program of the Saudi Arabian Government. I work in the Human Resources so more or less I know that household workers are not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor. Arbitration or other arrangements are handled by the Price (Governor) or every Saudi Provinces.

Saudization on the other hand is the program of the Saudi Arabian Government, through the Ministry of Labor to impose quotas on Saudi Nationals to be hired in the Private Sectors. Quotas are imposed depending on which sector the business is operating. Saudization has been going on from around 2005 or 2006 but private sectors could not meet the quotas imposed by the Ministry. Again, the ban on the deployment of Household workers has nothing to do with Saudization. I think, the Saudi government only wants to put pressure on the Philippine government so that they will agree to the USD 200 minimum wage. For your information, they also impose ban on the Indonesian household workers because of the similar issue, the minimum wage.

To give credit to the Philippine government, the POLO has been validating contracts between the Saudi employer and the Filipino maids. Sadly, the contract is only a piece of paper since it’s the Philippine agency (Agent) who would tell the Saudi employer to put USD. 400 in the contract but in actuality they’d only pay the maid USD 200. I have a contact with an agent for a household worker in Manila and I can honestly say that they’re partly to blame why our household workers are paid less.

The ban on the deployment of the household workers for Saudi Arabia was a welcome development for us, skilled and professional workers. We are happy because maids are the most vulnerable to abuse. They are helpless because they’re working in the house of their Saudi masters. I don’t want to generalize but I know one Vice President in our company who never feeds his Filipino maid. There are a lot of horror stories too. In Saudi Arabia, a young man could be kidnapped and raped how much more for a female domestic worker who has nowhere to go. If we, the skilled and professional workers are not paid our salaries we can go to the Saudi Ministry of Labor. The household workers have nowhere and no one to turn to. That’s the reason why there are so many runaway maids.

This deployment ban should be an eye opener for the Philippine government. They should just send skilled workers because they’re much more protected than the household workers are. And if they still want to send household workers, it’s better if it’s not in the Middle Eastern countries.

Do you think it's not right for Ph to require such level of wages?

I think that it’s just right for our country to demand a minimum wage for household workers because the Saudi Arabia does not have a minimum wage law. They can pay you whatever amount they like as long as you agree to it. The host country should also be sensitive to the maid’s reason why she decided to work outside her home country. She leaves everything behind, her family and friends. Minimum wage could be abused and it’s been abused over and over again but at least there’s minimum.

What will be the impact on deployments of Filipinos in Saudi?

There will be no new arriving household workers but the private sectors are still hiring skilled workers. Manufacturing industries and skilled workers such as welders, AC technicians and machine operators are still in demand. In fact, we just received our visa block to hire additional Filipino, Indian and Nepalese workers. I don’t think that the ban on deployment of household workers will affect the inflow of remittance in our country.

Filipino maids are known to be industrious, hardworking and neat. I also hired Filipino maids for executives in our company and they’re the most preferred over other nationalities. They’ve raised babies, cook meals and clean the houses of the Saudi families. For sure they’ll be missed. However, it’s an opportunity for our country to first look into the safety of our domestic workers.

As for the question on the status of skilled and professional workers, I say that it’s not a cause for concern. Like our household workers, we’re the most preferred nationality because of the quality of work that we can produce. Our government should capitalize on this edge and improve our curriculums and technical trainings.

The reason why Saudization failed to reach the target is not because the program is flawed. It’s because Saudi Nationals refused to do the work. Companies have no choice but to hire foreign workers or else their production will suffer. Private companies invest more when they’re hiring Saudi Nationals because they are paid three times more than their foreign counterpart yet the quality of their work is NIL. Young Saudi professionals on the other hand want to be promoted to a managerial level right away. If they’re not promoted, they leave the company as they please. It’s different for foreign workers because the company holds into our documents and we can’t move to another company as we please because of the sponsorship issues.

Is a way out of this stand-off in the offing or impossible at this point.

As far as I know, the Saudi Government is sticking to the USD. 200. I know that they’re just putting pressure to the PHL government. In fact, they’ve also announced that they’ll be hiring Bangladeshi household help instead of the Filipinos and Indonesians.

Our government should be firm on the minimum wage issue. The ban is a blessing in disguise for the Filipino household workers. This way, they’ll not be abused.

Is there a way out? I think so. PHL should not beg and just let the Saudi Government go on with the ban. In the end, they’re losing a priced Filipino household worker and we get to ensure their safety too.

Again, thank you very much for the opportunity.

Regards,

braggito