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The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) strongly denounces the
prejudiced treatment and excessively unfair situation currently
being faced by 26 Filipino nurses who were recruited from the
Philippines by the Sentosa Recruitment Agency, a single
proprietorship run by Francis Luyun. Sentosa works in partnership
with Ben Philipson, a Danish national and a permanent resident of
the US who owns and manages 14 nursing facilities in New York. Even
upon arrival in the United States, it was already quite evident that
Sentosa was shortchanging the 26 Filipino nurses when they were made
to work for different nursing facilities other than those provided
for in their contracts.
Moreover, these Filipinos were paid, not by the
nursing facility where they worked, but by the Sentosa Service
Prompt Nursing Employment Agency (which meant that they were not
getting their full pay, as the agency gets a certain percentage from
the workers’ salaries).
It is further saddening to note that Sentosa did
not fulfill several of its commitments, based on the pre-employment
agreement, as follows:
a. That the licensure and certification expenses
of the Filipino nurses will be reimbursed; worse, a couple of them
were not even reimbursed their plane fares from Manila to New York,
earlier promised by the recruiter and likewise reflected in the
Sentosa Recruitment Agency flyer.
b. That immediately upon arrival in the US, all
26 Filipino nurses will work as registered nurses. In fact, a few of
them got their limited permits about 3 weeks after their arrival
while majority got their limited permits or licenses two months
after.
c. That the nurses will be paid reasonably. It
turned out that some of the Filipino nurses started out as
“clerks” and were paid only US$12 to $14 per hour, compared to
the prevailing US$24 per hour wage rate for a nurse. The nursing
home where the Filipino nurses worked were paying higher than the
prevailing price, at US$35 to $45 an hour to their staff nurses.
Worse, some of the Filipino nurses were not paid for actual work
hours rendered; some were underpaid and others were not paid the
night shift differentials and even their holiday duty.
We likewise condemn Sentosa’s moves to
purportedly reprove and discipline the Filipino nurses when they
bonded to fight for their rights—first, Sentosa withheld the green
cards of the Filipino workers and only released them when confronted
with the fact that the US Immigration Service has already confirmed
that these cards have earlier been sent to Sentosa Care’s office
in Woodmere.
Second, Philipson and his group of companies
tried to harass the Filipino nurses by filing a counter-complaint
against them for alleged breach of contract; later, Sentosa lawyers
also filed administrative cases against the Filipino nurses before
the New York State Education Department so that these nurses will
not receive their limited permits to work for other employers. The
effects of such harassment were most felt when a number of Sentosa
employees who claimed to be victims of Sentosa discrimination and
exploitation and who voiced willingness to file charge against
Sentosa and even signed affidavits to this effect, detracted from
their decision out of “fear for their lives.”
Besides the wages issue, the Filipino nurses
brought to the fore other problems confronting nurses in the US,
such as patient healthcare, understaffing and improper/incomplete
orientation or training.
A case for discrimination against Philipson,
Sentosa Care, LLC, and Prompt Nursing Employment Agency, has already
been filed before the Office of Special Counsel for
Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices of the US Department
of Justice in Washington, D.C. Moreover, during the last week of
April 2006, administrative cases have been filed before POEA against
the Sentosa Recruitment Agency for violation of recruitment rules
and regulations; also labor claims filed against Philipson and Luyun
before the NLRC and criminal cases against Sentosa Recruitment
Agency and Luyun for illegal recruitment before DOJ (the criminal
cases were forwarded to the Anti-Human Trafficking Division of the
DOJ).
What we find most unfortunate, however, was that
after a year, nothing concrete has come out of these cases. Further,
there were several attempts to quash the case, as follows:
a. In early May 2006, New York Senator Charles
Schumer wrote the New York Consul General of the Philippines,
interceding in behalf of Philipson and his Sentosa group of
companies. (It is common knowledge that Philipson was one of the big
financiers to Schumer’s senatorial bid.) Schumer also wrote POEA
following the issuance of a preventive suspension order against
Sentosa.
b. Even our own officials were guilty of
political interference, to include then presidential Chief of Staff
Mike Defensor who called up POEA Administrator Baldoz to lift the
POEA preventive suspension order she signed on May 24, 2006, against
Sentosa Recruitment Agency. Also, POEA’s Deputy Administrator for
General Administrative Support Services, Carmeilita Dimzon, told the
prospective recruits during a Sentosa recruitment seminar in Manila
in May 2006, that Sentosa had no pending cases filed against it.
c. The preventive suspension was lifted on June
8, 2006, after Sen. Schumer wrote Adm. Baldoz reminding her not to
take any action that she deemed inappropriate and immediately
following Defensor’s call.
We must throw our full support to the Filipino
nurses who continue to face the ordeal of fighting an apparently
powerful conglomerate in New York whose tentacles even reach our own
government machinery. They are waging a battle not only for
themselves but for the entire Philippine nursing sector. We must
join hands with other sectors to be heard and we call on our
legislators and other government officials to stand by us. MABUHAY
ANG PINOY NARS!!
(Signed)
Leah Primitiva G. Samco-Paquiz, Ph.D.
President, Philippine Nurses Association
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