Gulfnews reached out to me to seek my thoughts about this Overseas Employment Certificate or OEC. Here’s what I had to say…
Filipino vlogger and social media influencer Ion Gonzaga told Gulf News: “The OEC has presented [people with] more frustrations than benefits.” He asserted: “Our UAE employment visa should be enough to validate our employment. We need proper assistance rather than a mere ‘certificate’.”
Gonzaga also criticised the “poor appointment system”, adding: “The website is poorly designed; online booking is poor; data verification is inaccurate. POLO-Dubai does not even accept cards or digital payments.
“Philippine travel tax at the airport is just around Dh115. We actually pay more for OEC and contract verification. They cost Dh92 and Dh40, respectively, plus you add the money spent going to POLO-Dubai and the time wasted in processing the request — it’s very inconvenient and more expensive.”
Barney Almazar, director at the corporate-commercial department of Gulf Law, observed: “There is no empirical data that the act of contract verification being done by the POEA can justify the curtailment of the fundamental rights of the traveller. The freedom of movement is a constitutional right, which a citizen cannot be deprived of without due pro- cess of law and only on clear and compelling grounds of na- tional security, public health and public safety.”
Suggestion
“The requirement to secure an exit pass or OEC is essentialLu an infringement on a Filipino’s right to travel,” he added.
“The government should crack down on illegal recruiters and not punish those who simply want to work abroad for their families,” he said. “The best way is to offer support to OFWs and channel resources to agen- cies based in the host countries, rather than spending on useless paperwork and bureaucracy.”
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Thank you Gulf News for sharing our voice.
