The Philippines’ Labor Ministry has prepared a comprehensive blacklist containing the names of the Saudi employers who have abused or sexually harassed their Filipino housemaids to prevent them from recruiting in the future.
Quoting a source at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, Makkah daily reported on Monday that the recruitment application of any Saudi who has a history of maltreating Filipino housemaids would never be accepted.
The source, who opted not to be named, said a surefire reason for inclusion on the blacklist is physical abuse and sexual harassment against their housemaids.
He explained some Saudis were blacklisted because of their personal accounts on the social media.
"A young Saudi man put a video clip on his account showing his mother pouring hot water on the back of a Filipino housemaid," the source said.
He said the bulk of the data on blacklist was compiled from Filipino maids’ complaints to the ministry against their Saudi employers.
Meanwhile, the Philippines’ Labor Attaché in the Eastern Province Alexander Padaen said Saudi employers have no right to force Filipino maids to wear hijabs (headscarf) or niqabs (veil covering the whole face) while she is inside their home.
"Any housemaid who is forced to do so can complain to the labor attachés of the Philippines in Riyadh or Dammam," he said.
Padaen, however, said a housemaid should wear the headscarf while going out with the family because this is a Saudi tradition.
He noted a rising demand for housemaids from the Philippines and said the embassy is receiving an annual average of 40,000 requests for recruitment of housemaids from his country.
Padaen denied there were any delays in the processing of recruitment from his countryz and said the maximum time for importing housemaids should not exceed three months.
The chairman of the national recruitment committee at the Saudi Council of Chambers, Saeed Al-Baddah, however, said recruitment of housemaids from the Philippines may take as long as 10 months.
