UPMAIAI (Israel Association)'s URGENT APPEAL on new HHWs rules/guidelines

January 5, 2007

The Honorable Administrator and Deputy Administrators
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
Manila


Thru: Ms. Stella Banawiz, Director IV, Employment Branch
Ms. Teresita Laurel, Director II, Landbased Center
Ms. Maybelle Gorospe, Chief Labor Employment Officer, Landbased Center

Dear Officers:

AN URGENT APPEAL

In our letter of 22 December 2006 we made an ardent appeal for the non-coverage of ISRAEL in the new policies of POEA concerning household workers.

We have stated in our said letter that we are supportive of your policies in improving the quality of our household workers by deploying only the competent ones, in terms of skills and language readiness.

While we are waiting for your response to our aforesaid appeal, with the new policies already made effective, let this be AN URGENT APPEAL for your office to:


* Please allow us to process, under the old regulations (without the COC from TESDA-accredited Assessment Center, and COC from OWWA), the E-Receipts/OECs of our workers whose employment contracts were verified and visa was approved by Ministry of Interior in Israel on or earlier than December 31, 2006.

These are our pipe-line accounts, which when delayed, may lead to a deteriorated health (even death), of Israeli employers/patients who are waiting for our caregivers.

On the Language & Culture orientation which is supposed to be conducted by OWWA, it is not unknown to you that OWWA itself, has admitted "unpreparedness" for Israel-bound Caregivers, as their office only offers orientation courses in Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Since OWWA, until today, cannot tell us, how soon can they come up with a course for Israel-bound workers, we hope you agree that workers and their waiting employers, should not suffer for OWWA's unreadiness for the new overseas employment policies?

May we mention also that ll agencies deploying to Israel, even before the implementation of POEA's policy reforms, have been implementing in-house trainings on Hebrew language and culture orientation for its workers, or enrolling them to TESDA-accredited centers offering the required course. Our caregivers are already equipped with knowledge of the host country's culture and language, before they are deployed, and this also explains why very very few welfare problems are reported concerning agency-deployed workers to Israel.

In the light of all the above, we pray for your understanding and favorable consideration of our APPEAL.

Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

RAMON O. ESTRELLA
President