TRAFFICKERS?
MANILA, JANUARY 4, 2012 (MANILA TIMES) EDITORIAL -
THE dismissal on New Year's Day of Mr. Carlos Cao from his position
of Administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
agitates overseas Filipino workers all over the globe.
It is not often that a labor department official is found satisfactory by OFW
organizations. Atty. Carlos Cao is one of the few.
Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) is a branch of Migrante Inrernational, the
largest OFW organization. Migrante-ME looks after the more than one million OFWs
in the Arab world. Its leaders think the "fast and rude " firing of Mr. Cao "
reflects a power-struggle between new and old, good and bad, people among
"PNoy's top labor honchos."
Mr. John Leonard Monterona, the regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East,
worries that Mr. Cao's humiliating removal, not attended by a proper hand over
of pending OFW cases from Mr.Cao to his successor, will result in a mess.
There are thousands of cases that POEA must take a hand in to help our OFWs.
In the absence of a "smooth transition" will POEA action on these cases be
suspended?
"Atty. Cao's dismissal also reflects the reality that Pres. Aquino may not be
in control of the labor department," Mr. Monterona says. He explains that Atty.
Cao as a newcomer wanted to institute real reforms in the POEA, while his
bosses, mostly old-timers in the POEA, had their reasons not to be satisfied
with his performance.
Mr. Monterona speaks of Atty. Cao's integrity and unblemished record of
service. He had been following the "Tuwid na Daan" (Righteous Path) even before
President Aquino articulated his political slogan.
Migrante's Mr. Monterona and others closely monitoring the lives of our OFWs
as well as the government agencies and people tasked with serving them have
observed that Atty. Cao "has done a good job instituting bureaucratic reforms
that streamlined the procedure of services to OFWs stakeholders such as the
Balik-Mangagawa wherein vacationing OFWs are required to obtain an Overseas
Employment Certificate (OEC)," says Mr.Monterona. "He has also been at the
frontline in the combat against illegal recruitment activities though he has
just been in office for more than one year." Mr. Cao has also done other acts
that made OFWs like and respect him.
Mr. Monterona vouches that he personally witnessed what he calls "the now
more rationalized process in obtaining the OEC." He fell in line to obtain his
OEC last December 27 at the Balik-Mangagawa Center, in the POEA building in
Ortigas. It impressed him that the process only took him about 20 to 30 minutes,
compared with the previous situation when OFWs had to stand for hours.
Mr. Monterona also lauds Mr. Cao for having "busted the racket at the POEA,
where fake OECs proliferated." The fake certificates were being sold to OFWs via
recruitment agencies, the same recruiters who have victimized OFWs by the
thousands.
Atty. Cao's reforms stopped "the large-scale human smuggling and illegal
trafficking activities." It is alleged that these activities could succeed only
because some corrupt POEA men were in cahoots with the illegal recruiters, Mr.
Monterona said.
Obviously his bosses at the Department of Labor did not like the newcomer Mr.
Cao. Mr. Monterona adverted to the "padrino" system in Philippine bureucracy
being "very much alive" and practiced under wraps "from top to bottom."
Mr. Monterona thinks President Aquino has been ill-advised into agreeing to
dismiss Atty. Cao. He was hoping until New Year's Day that the President would
change his mind and stop Mr. Cao's termination.
Deprived of dignity An Inquirer report on Saturday December 31 by Philip C.
Tubeza narrated that one day before his expected departure (because news had
come out that his replacement was poised to take over) Atty. Cao had not yet
been formally informed of his publicized forthcoming removal from office.
He told the Inquirer that he had asked his DOLE superiors to give him some
dignity by informing him that he was going to be dismissed. On Monday, it did
happen. He was replaced by DOLE Undersecretary Hans Cacdac as the newspaper
leaks had earlier announced.
This shabby treatment of an official greatly appreciated by the people he was
tasked to serve is a black mark on the Aquino administration.
While Migrante's John Leonard Monterona has been polite in his remonstrances,
some other OFW leaders have expressed anger. They lay the blame on the
"syndicate" of crooked recruitment agencies. Atty. Cao had actually cancelled
the permits of about 300 recruitment agencies that had been proved to have
committed abuses. These agencies, which allegedly have friends among high DOLE
officials, are said to be the ones who pressed for Atty. Cao's dismissal.
An irate OFW leader, Don C. Duero, circulated an Internet open letter asking,
"Mr. President, are you part of the syndicate already?"
It's such a great pity that President Aquino followed the advice of those who
wanted Atty. Cao out. He could have been a poster boy for the President's "Tuwid
na Daan." The dismissal of Atty. Cao will now be advertised by administration
critics as a triumph in the Aquino government of the human traffickers.
And Mr. Cao could also have been a living rebuttal of the charge leveled
against the President that he only wants to give important positions to members
of his Liberal Party and his Old Boys' Network.
For Atty. Cao is a member of Bro. Eddie Villanueva's Jesus Is Lord sect. And
he did not vote for candidate Noynoy Aquino for president in the 2010 election.
He supported and voted for Bro. Eddie, who was the presidential candidate of the
Bangon Pilipinas Party.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
