Solon hits Libya posting of labor exec in scandal

Solon hits Libya posting of labor exec in scandal

ADAM MUSA

A member of Congress has panned the Department of Labor and Employment’s designation of Adam Musa as the new Philippine labor attaché to Tripoli, Libya.

“We expect Philippine labor officials abroad to be held to lofty ethical standards. The posting of an executive with a derogatory record does not conform to, and is not consistent with, such high moral standards,” said ACTS-OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III.

When he was labor attaché to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2013, Musa was tagged in a “sex-for-flight” scandal that became the subject of separate inquiries by the Senate and the House.
The outrage involved asking sexual favors from distressed female overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East, such as those who fled from their abusive employers, in exchange for repatriation and plane tickets home paid for by the Philippine government.

Musa was also accused of covering up his driver’s attempted rape of a female OFW who ran away from her employer in Saudi Arabia and who sought refuge in the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Al-Khobar.

REP. ANICETO BERTIZ III

For his attempt to conceal the offense, Musa was previously slapped with one month suspension from office by then Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Appointed by the Labor Secretary, a labor attaché looks after OFWs and heads the POLO in a foreign country. The POLO is attached to a Philippine embassy or consulate general abroad.

Meanwhile, Bertiz accused Musa of violating the ban on the deployment of newly hired Filipino workers to Libya when he authorized the University Hospital of Tripoli to hire an additional 150 Filipino nurses.

“There is a standing (Philippine government) prohibition on the deployment of newly hired Filipino workers to Libya due to the raging civil war there,” Bertiz said.

At present, Bertiz said only Filipinos already working in Libya may return to the North African country once their contracts with the same employer are renewed.

The Philippine government has been trying to secure the release of three Filipino technicians recently kidnapped by unidentified armed men following an attack on a water project site in western Libya.

(PRESS RELEASE)