Ill-treated Pinoy welders in Poland want to come home
By CARINE ASUTILLA
ABS-CBN Cebu
Twenty-four Filipino welders from Cebu expressed their intention to come home after experiencing ill-treatment from their employers in Poland.
The welders are all from Danao City and have been working for a boat yard in Poland for almost six months now.
The welders’ wives said they now worry for their husbands after receiving text messages about their plight.
Warcito Peñalosa’s wife, Annalyn, told ABS-CBN Cebu about her husband’s ordeal.
“He had a big cut on his hand. He sustained it while he was working. He filed a leave to their employer but it was denied. My husband just wanted to take a rest and let his wound heal,” she said.
Mrs. Peñalosa said that her husband told her that they were forced to work even if they were not feeling well.
Jennifer Montes, live-in partner of welder Jude Paul Batucad, said that she started receiving text messages from him Thursday night.
Montes said Batucad asked her to seek help from Philippine government officials to facilitate their early return home.
Batucad told Montes that they have all agreed to stop working. The workers said they all want to come home instead after finding out that their contracts have been altered and their allowances reduced.
A text message from Batucad stated that their employers have been making their lives difficult.
Rachelle Gonzales said that her husband, Elpedio Jr., told her in his text message that the vice-president of the company had told them they can go home if they want to.
‘They come home if they want to’
The welders’ employment company in Cebu, owned by Mary Rea Villafuerte, said the workers can come home but their travel expenses cannot be reimbursed.
The company declined to issue a statement to ABS-CBN. Instead, it called for a meeting with the welders’ wives.
The closed-door meeting dragged on for almost three hours. The employment agency told the wives that their husbands can come home only after three weeks.
Villafuente said that the welders will have to pay for the plane tickets and train fares. To do this, they will have to work for almost a month with no pay.
The wives have yet to agree on the proposal. They said they need to inform their husbands about the meeting.
“I’m really worried because they don’t have any relatives there, they had just been sent out from their boarding houses, and my husband said that they don’t even have money now to pay for food,” said Gonzales.
Angel Espirity, regional director of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Region VII, advised the welders’ wives to go to the DFA office and fill up some forms. He asked the women to relay their husbands’ information to DFA officer.
Espiritu said the forms will be submitted to the Office for Migrant Workers Affairs in Manila since it will be the one to handle the case.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in Cebu, meanwhile, said it cannot give assistance to the welders since there is no OWWA office in oland.
However, OWWA welfare desk officer Romel Cabillo said they can help the welders if they were sent to Poland on a training visa. A training visa would mean that the welders were deployed without work papers.
ABS-CBN learned from the wives that the welders used training visas. Their employment contracts also were not signed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration in Region VII.
Janet Abellanosa, POEA overseas employment adjudicator, confirmed that Villafuerte’s agency is not registered with them.
Good day, we are a group of Filipinos here in Poland and we would like to know some information about this news so that we can get in touch with them and see what we can do.