AL-KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia – A welfare officer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), an adjunct agency to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) mandated to provide on-site services and welfare programs to distress overseas Filipino workers abroad is on a hot seat after a distressed Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) filed a complaint against him to not properly attending the latter despite several request for assistance.
In a report of the migrants workers’ rights group Migrante-Middle East (M-ME), OFW Ronald D. Detanoy signed an affidavit dated July 21, 2012 and sworn before a consular official of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. Detanoy alleged that OWWA welfare officer Anuar Ali Ampang is not properly providing him the necessary advise pertaining to his case.
“Sya ang palaging nagsasabi ano ang gagawin sa kaso ko samantalang ako ang complainant, ako ang nagtatanong kung ano ang dapat gawin. Sa madaling salita, hindi nya din alam ang gagawin (He is always asking me what to do on my case, where in fact I am the complainant always asking him what to do -to guide me and assist me on my case. In other words, he too does not know what to do),” OFW Detanoy stated on the opening of his signed and sworn affidavit.
“At habang nag-uusap kami, naglalaro sya ng Solitaire sa kanyang computer (While we are discussing, he is playing Solitaire on his computer),” OFW Detanoy added.
The affidavit mentioned that during the discussion of Detanoy and Ampang, the welfare officer always raised his voice like his angry.
According to Migrante-Middle East, OFW Detanoy allegations against OWWA welfare officer Anuar Ampang were corroborated by three OFW witnesses namely Peter Salvador Esguerra, Joel Marquez, and Christopher Yatar, affirming the veracity of the allegations.
Migrante-Middle East and the Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS), Migrante affiliate in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said they will be providing assistance to the complainant OFW.
“We will continue to provide assistance to distressed OFW Ronald Detanoy and will guide him and his kin in filing an administrative and criminal case in Manila against OWWA welfare officer Anuar Ampang,” said John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East.
Monterona said that if President Benigno Aquino III and his labor managers could not even reprimand its erring officials abroad, then with available ways and means such as filing appropriate administrative and criminal case, “let’s teach a lesson to these erring officials like Anuar Ampang that there is right conduct and ethical standards in public service.”
On July 18, 2012, M-ME also received and endorsed the complaint of OFW Joel F. Lacanilao who alleged that Saudi-based Philippine Overseas Labor official Mr. Allen ‘Jack’ Arroyo asked him to give 7,000 Saudi riyals ((US$ ,866.67) aside from the SAR. 3,000 (US$ 800.00) given by his Manila-based agency to the said official on his promised that the OFW will be repatriated without delay.
“Really, ‘Noynoying’ attitude is quite rampant among public officials posted abroad and it’s like contagious disease,” Monterona referring to the term popularized by President Aquino’s critics after his nickname ‘Noynoy’, that describes government officials bad public conduct and ethics and inaction on people’s problems, concerns and issues.
“We call on PNoy and his labor honchos to clean their ranks from erring and inept officials who are posted abroad. DoLE chief Rosalinda Baldoz should immediately order the recall of its officials Allen ‘Jack’ Arroyo and Anuar Ampang and initiate their dismissal from office,” Monterona ended.