Embassy execs in sex scandal ordered to return home

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has ordered the three labor and embassy personnel accused in the alleged sex-for-repatriation racket and the ambassadors in Syria, Jordan and Kuwait to return to Manila for investigation.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has relieved two of the accused – Mario Antonio, assistant labor attaché in Amman, Jordan and Blas Marquez from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait.

“Mr. Antonio is now here with OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) while Mr. Marquez has been stripped of his assignment in Kuwait,” Director Rodolfo Sabulao of the labor department’s international labor affairs bureau told ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday.

Del Rosario, who had a closed-door meeting with Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello at the House of Representatives yesterday, said no formal complaint has been filed against any of the three labor officers.

Sabrina Gacad, a member of Bello’s staff, told reporters that the DFA chief also promised to investigate “Mr. Kim,” the third diplomatic officer.

Gacad said Del Rosario also pledged to ask his personnel in Jordan and Kuwait about the alleged illegal activities of Antonio and Marquez.

She said Akbayan is satisfied with the actions being taken by concerned agencies and is expecting criminal and administrative charges to be filed against the officials.     

Bello said Mr. Kim exploits workers sheltered in the embassy in Damascus, Syria by having sex with them. The officer is a member of the DFA augmentation team in Damascus, he said.

Lawyer Leah Fortuna, chair of the special investigating team, said POLO has placed Marquez under preventive suspension to protect the integrity of the investigation and prevent him from further interacting with OFWs.

Fortuna said Marquez was required to make himself available when the investigating team arrives in Kuwait. The three-man probe team is flying to Kuwait and Jordan to gather information and evidence on the alleged prostitution racket and is expected to complete its investigation by mid-July.

Antonio is set to appear before the investigating team today.

OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon said the DOLE would not hesitate to penalize the officials if proven that they committed illegal acts.

She said Antonio returned to the country last June 11 after his tour of duty ended and expressed surprise over the charges filed against him.

“At first I am being accused of selling plane tickets for distressed workers. Now the issue has evolved into prostitution charges,” Dimzon quoted Antonio as saying.

DFA chief to handle probe

Del Rosario said he would oversee the investigation to ensure that it is “transparent, comprehensive and undertaken as early and as expeditiously (as possible).”

While he found the allegations against embassy personnel disconcerting, he said he is clueless on the motive of a senior official who gave the information to Bello.

“I think there are professional ethics there. As a senior official you are responsible for the welfare of your department and if you see anything wrong you should go to the leadership and... he should have discussed with me. But the fact that he went directly to congressman Bello, I do not know what his motivations are,” he said.

Gov’t won’t condone erring officials

Meanwhile, Malacañang assured the public that it would take the appropriate action against officials allegedly involved in the sex-for-repatriation racket in the Middle East.

“If these reports are true, then certainly we won’t tolerate that,” said Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.        

Vice President Jejomar Binay, presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ Concerns, assured the OFWs that his office would take immediate action as he urged them to file complaints against the erring embassy staff.

Senators Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Tito Sotto and Gregorio Honasan also condemned the alleged exploitation of runaway Filipina workers by embassy personnel in the Middle East.

Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, called for an investigation into the allegations while Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on youth, women and family relations, said erring officials should be charged and banned from holding office.

Maasin Bishop Prescioso Cantillas, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People, expressed sadness over the reported exploitation of OFWs in the Middle East even as he commended the DFA and the DOLE for their efforts to bring justice to the victims.  – With Mayen Jaymalin, Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano, Christina Mendez, Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan, Paolo Romero, Pia Lee-Brago