Deployment ban on maids to Saudi lifted

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine government has finally lifted the ban and allowed the deployment of newly hired Filipino household service workers (HSWs) to Saudi Arabia.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Philippine and Saudi governments have forged agreements that allowed for the lifting of the suspension in deployment of newly hired HSWs.

“Under the agreements, the Saudi government already allowed our country to resume our verification requirement and that a standard employment contract would already be adopted,” Baldoz said.

Baldoz said the new standard employment contract provides for $400 minimum monthly salary for Filipino HSWs to be deployed in Saudi Arabia.

She said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in Saudi Arabia would resume the mandatory verification of employment contracts for HSWs starting Monday.

“The POEA would also resume processing of Saudi-bound HSWs by Monday after which the deployment would follow,” Baldoz said.

Last year, the Philippine government suspended the processing and deployment of newly hired HSWs after the Saudi government stopped the mandatory verification of employment contracts.

It was reported that the Saudi government stopped the verification process to protest the Philippine government’s $400 minimum monthly salary requirement for HSWs.

Despite the suspension in deployment, Baldoz said, the country deployed a total of 11,000 HSW rehires to Saudi Arabia for the whole of 2011.

With the new agreement, Baldoz said they have fewer cases of Filipino HSWs running away from employers as well as cases of maltreatment and other abuses.

“We have stated in the new standard employment contract that recruitment agencies now have the responsibility to provide the necessary protection to the HSWs to be deployed. Through this we can rule out contract substitution,” she said.