POEA application needed for DFA officers to bring staff abroad

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) no longer allows domestic staff to go with their officers assigned abroad, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Tuesday.

“They must apply to POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration). I ceded full authority to it,” Locsin said on Twitter.

He said the POEA sets USD400 or USD600 (approximately PHP19,400 to PHP29,100) as minimum salary deposited in the domestic worker’s bank account, including “other safeguards.”

Existing contracts of domestic staff already abroad, meanwhile, would still be honored, the DFA said.

“The POEA requirement is likely to be prospective in application as we are bound to honor existing contracts involving domestic staff abroad,” it said.

The announcement came after the dismissal of former ambassador Marichu Mauro who was caught assaulting her Filipino helper at her official residence while assigned in Brazil.

“It cannot happen again,” Locsin said referring to the case of the envoy.

Mauro was recalled in October last year to explain the physical abuse against her service staff and was charged on November 9.

On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte said the diplomat has been dismissed from service.

READ: Maltreated household helper thanks PRRD for swift justice

The household helper, identified as Leonila de Ocampo, thanked the President for making sure that she received all the necessary assistance following her ordeal, especially during her return from Brazil in October last year to her home in Koronadal City.

De Ocampo said upon returning to the Philippines the former ambassador called her up while she was undergoing mandatory quarantine and apologized for everything that happened.

“I don’t hold any grudge and had not even considered filing a case against her. I decided to leave everything to God,” she said.