Latest News About the Sentosa 27 Controversy
Much has been said and heard about the saga of the 27 Filipino nurses now tagged as Sentosa 27. The Philippine and US government have already gotten their feet wet in the mess of allegations between the nurses and their employer Sentosa Group owned by a certain Mr. Francris Luyun.
If you have not been aware of this, you can follow the chain of events here from PNA-NY. Also recently, the Manila Times released a special report on the Sentosa 27 saga.
And now, Sentosa released to the press their official statement on the matter. The following is press release via PRWeb that came out yesterday May 13.
Woodmere, NY (PRWEB) May 13, 2008 — With an increasing number of legal rulings and administrative decisions coming down in favor of Sentosa Care Group, the facts and truth about the nurses who walked off their jobs without proper notice nearly two years ago is steadily coming to light.
In January, the Philippine Department of Justice dismissed the charges of illegal recruitment filed against executives of Sentosa Recruitment Agency in the Philippines and Sentosa Care LLC in New York, saying, “There was no substantive alterations in the employment contracts signed by the complainants to sustain the findings of illegal recruitment.” In February, the National Labor Relations Commission in Manila came to a similar conclusion, pointing out that the nurses failed to notify their employer when submitting resignations, something that was both a violation of their contracts as well as a violation of the Labor Code of the Philippines.
Our case has always been about the advocating for the very best care possible for our patients and that is not going to stop. Even the decision by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, which originally ruled in favor of the nurses on the issue of contract substitution, reversed itself last September after finding that “what really happened, as admitted by the complainants themselves, was that they were actually transferred to other affiliated nursing facilities.”
The matter also came before the United States Department of Justice, which likewise dismissed the charges of unfair immigration-related employment practices in August of 2007. In a letter to Sentosa attorneys, special deputy counsel of the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division, Katherine Baldwin said, “Based on its investigation, this office has determined that there is insufficient evidence of reasonable cause to believe the injured parties were discriminated against as prohibited by 8 U.S.C. §1324b.”
“This string of rulings proves that our client was not engaged in any illegal practices,” said Ibaro Relaminda Jr., Senotsa’s attorney based in the Philippines. “It also proves that the nurses were lying in their statements about maltreatment.”
With the unfurling of truth in case after case, support for the nurses and their attorney, Felix Vinluan, both in the U.S. and in the Philippines, is now beginning to buckle under the weight of the facts.
“The bottom line here is that there are hundreds of other nurses happy with their Sentosa Care links. They earn up to US $140,000 for nursing directors, a little less for supervisors, and so on,” noted one blogger posting to Manila Bulletin Online.
The post went on to ask, “Is greed of a few going to spoil the chances of other Filipino nurses to find better and more stable jobs in New York through Sentosa Care?”
As recently as February 28th the Philippine Nurses Association-United States (PNA-US) voiced its concern about the deteriorating sense of responsibility cropping up among some Filipino nurses as a result of the growing number of opportunities to work abroad.
Sentosa is not the only recruitment agency faced with this issue. U.S. based Global Service Inc, filed a complaint with PNA-US last month complaining about Filipino nurses that breech their employment contracts without a work-related cause. “They simply choose to move to different locations to be near friends and family. This seems to be becoming more rampant as other nurses learn that they can break their employment agreements with no serious repercussions,” wrote Global Service in its letter of complaint.
Executives at Sentosa Recruitment are quick to add that the vast majority of nurses recruited from the Philippines are the utmost caring and qualified professionals. However, it does agree with Global Service that without harsh repercussions for those rare few who attempt to work the system, hospitals, nursing facilities, patients and their loved ones will all suffer at the hands of a few ill-willed and misguided practitioners.
“Our case has always been about the advocating for the very best care possible for our patients and that is not going to stop,” said Ben Philipson of Sentosa Care. “If that means pursuing justice on both sides of the Pacific. If it means prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law those caregivers and others who would do our patients harm intentionally or through negligence, then we will do just that.”
Philipson continued saying, “Because we still firmly believe in the quality of training and capacity for concern found in the nurses we get from the Philippines we will continue to draw on that pool of candidates, supporting their transition to the states, both financially and culturally. But we are also going to do everything legally allowable to weed out and punish those who are not just damaging the reputation of Sentosa, but also the very good reputation that nurses from the Philippines have enjoyed until now.”
That quest for the truth continues with the pending decision on the criminal trial brought by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office* (against nurses who resigned en masse at a Smithtown, NY nursing home. Sentosa looks forward to seeing justice prevail there as well.
The full press release is here.
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Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) Supports the Calls to Junk JPEPA Movement
The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), after careful interpretation and deliberation on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA, has supported the calls to junk the supposedly economic agreement that will benefit both countries.
Unfortunately, similar to the views of other independent organizations and private sectors, PNA believes that this agreement will not benefit the Philippines (especially our nurses) as whole but Japan. The perceived effect is that there will be an imbalance on the economic commitments favoring Japan as well as those in the unfavorable movement of workers like Nurses as well as the issue on allowing toxic junk to hit Philippine shores from Japan.
Specific to the nursing profession is the lack of true opportunity for Filipino nurses to be at par with the Japanese nurses. The hardship of entry and further study (not to mention the cultural shock the Pinoy nurses have to face) needed for the job is not at all attractive to the Filipino nurses.
Here is an excerpt from the statement released by PNA:
The disadvantages to Filipino nurses who wish to land jobs in Japan under the JPEPA far outweigh the advantages, as evidenced by the following:
The hassle of undergoing 6 months of language training before a Filipino nurse can start work as a trainee, under the supervision of a Japanese nurse;
Learning the language is not a guarantee that the Filipino nurse will get the equivalent of the work status of the Japanese nurse, unless the Filipino nurse passes the Japanese board exam.
In the event the Filipino nurse fails the board exams, his/her working visa may be extended only twice which means that the maximum stay in Japan is only 3 years.
On the other hand, the Filipino caregiver, after 6 months of language training, can already work in a health care facility or a nursing home for the aged. However, under JPEPA, a caregiver is required to have a bachelor’s degree and must be certified as a caregiver by the Philippine government (which is not the case for our caregivers).
The cost of living in Japan is one of the highest in the world. Filipino nurses will not only make adjustments in terms of the medium of communication and the culture but also the high cost of living which will eat up a large chunk of whatever difference in pay a nurse receives from working as a trainee in a Japanese hospital.
So if you wish to work in Japan, think again. Your fellow nurses are clearly not advising you to do that for now or until this JPEPA issue is laid to rest.
Here is the PNA statement that you can read online.
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DOLE Issues Certificates to Successful Retakers of the Controversial June 2006 Nursing Licensure Exams
Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque announced the start of the distribution of Certificates to Nursing Board passers of the December 2007 voluntary retake examination. The certificates distribution started yesterday 7 May 2008 from 9AM to 12 noon and 1:30PM to 4:30PM at the Office of Secretary Roque in Intramuros, Manila, upon the presentation of the examinee’s Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) License.
Roque advised those residing outside Metro Manila to file a claim of their Certificates through the DOLE Regional Offices nearest their place of residence or work. The DOLE Central Office shall then transmit (in batches) the Certificates within three days from receipt of notice from the Regional Office concerned.
The voluntary Nursing retake exams were conducted to clear doubts about the alleged irregularities in Tests III and V of the June 2006 Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE). The controversy has almost brought the Nursing profession down in jeopardy and made a bad impression worldwide on the competence of Filipino Nurses.
729 or 64 percent out of the 1,131 retakers passed the December 2007 examination with a passing grade of at least 75% in both Tests 3 and 5. The rest failed to beat the mark.
Roque clarified to the board passers of the June 2006 NLE that the results of the voluntary retake examination will not affect their status as licensed nurses in the Philippines. However, those who failed will not qualify for US VisaScreen Certificate issued by the US Commission on Graduates of a Foreign Nursing School (CGFNS).
CGFNS has previously announced that it would deny VisaScreen Certificates to the 17,000 passers of the controversial June 2006 licensure exams for Nursing which triggered Senate inquiries and court cases after it was exposed that some nursing review centers got leaks of Tests 3 and 5 and passed them on to their nursing reviewees to ensure passing the board exams.
The schedule of release of individual Certificates are as follows (by Alphabetical Order on Surname):
May 7, 2008 – Abad – Bendo
May 8, 2008 – Bergado – Dayawon
May 9, 2008 – De Guzman – Ganay
May 12, 2008 – Gantangco – Luna
May 13, 2008 – Lusis – Paderes
May 14, 2008 – Padilla – Saloria
May 15, 2008 – Samia – Zolina
For complete details and list of the successful examinees, visit the DOLE website at http://www.dole.gov.ph.
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Interesting blog about the plight of Filipino Nurses and their Families in the Philippines
I found a blog post that really is interesting for everyone to know. It’s about the typical Filipino family scenario where their kids are literally “pushed” to become nurses in the hopes of working abroad. The blog is well written and forms an interesting tale actually. (I wish I could have written about this first for the Pinoy nurses as well). Maybe later.
For now, take a look at how this blogger clearly explains the drama behind the poor yet aspiring Filipino nurses in their quest for financial salvation…
http://kasheel.blogspot.com/2008/05/filipino-nurses-where-art-thou.html
Hope you like it.
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