Aramark ‘petitioned’ for 33 Filipinos but many ended up working for another company

By Rhony Laigo

Balita Media News Services

A FORMER Filipino seaman who used to work as a waiter for 10 years in a cruise liner arrived in the U.S. last July for what he thought was for a job with one of America’s leading cleaning services in Virginia. However, no one from Aramark met them at a New Jersey airport and was apparently duped by a suspected human trafficking ring that may involve Filipinos operating on the west coast.

Rufino Martin De Guzman Jr. came to the BALITA MEDIA offices on Tuesday with his story claiming that not only does the job in Virginia not exist but the promised $7.25 per hour job to clean hotels became $4.75 per room, and with another company called Royal Hospitality Services Inc.

De Guzman said there were 18 of them who might have been hoodwinked by a syndicate that he said may involve a job placement agency in the Philippines and a U.S.-based firm that sponsored their temporary or seasonal workers visa under the H-2B Visa program.

According to De Guzman, a staffing agency he identified as Adman was the one responsible for recruiting them to work in the U.S. for Aramark for a “Seasonal Work Program” and with a “guaranteed wage” of $7.25 per hour. A “document” De Guzman presented to BALITA MEDIA showed that a certain Margaret Kobler signed the contract on behalf of Aramark which advertises on its website as the “leader in professional services, providing award-winning food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world.” According to Wikipedia “Aramark’s revenues reached $12.3 billion in 2009 and was listed as the 189th largest employer on the Fortune 500.”

However, after paying around $6,000 for their job placement and work visas, he and another Filipino recruit were told that they will instead be working in Biloxi, Mississippi. Upon arrival in Newark, New Jersey last July, no one from Aramark met them at the airport and they learned from a contact person over the phone that their job was “transferred” to Mississippi.

Left with no other options, De Guzman told BALITA MEDIA that they had to travel by train from Newark to Philadelphia to board a Greyhound bus to go to Biloxi even without any address or exact destination except for the “trust” that someone would meet them at the bus station. Somebody met them alright, however, the person, who identified himself as “Arthur,” presented a different contract for them to sign before he could offer them a job and a place to stay.

According to De Guzman, the new contract from a company called Royal Hospitality Services LLC stated amongst other provisions that the regular wage per room is $4.75 and that the minimum rooms that they would have to clean was 14. A copy was provided to BALITA MEDIA.

Reluctantly, De Guzman told BALITA MEDIA that he accepted the offer. However, during training, which paid them $8 per hour, he said it was “difficult for us to meet the 14-room requirement.” He said, “The rooms were huge. The most that you could do was 10.”

Sensing that he might be a victim of human trafficking, De Guzman decided to leave for Los Angeles with another Filipino worker and sought the help of Philippine officials. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Welfare Officer Alberto Adonis C. Duero is handling their case.

BALITA MEDIA called Royal Hospitality Services on Wednesday and was able to talk to Artur Grigoryan who admitted he met De Guzman and his companion at the bus station because a representative from a Manila agency, which he declined to identify, informed him that the two didn’t have a job and had no place to go.

“A person from the Philippines contacted me,” Grigoryan told BALITA MEDIA “and told me that they didn’t have a job.” Grigoryan also told BALITA MEDIA that he offered them with a job and a place to stay in Biloxi. “I gave him (De Guzman) money to buy food and provided an apartment for them. But he (De Guzman) left and did not even give me any notice that he would leave.”

When asked if he knew that they were supposed to be working for Aramark, Grigoryan told BALITA MEDIA that “I didn’t know that. I don’t know anything.” When queried, Grigoryan said that as far as he was concerned the $4.75 per room “does not violate any labor laws” and that “it was not difficult to clean 14 rooms” in one day, which he said would eventually amount to a $9 per hour wage rate for a day if met.

Grigoryan said he didn’t know anything about the immigration status of the Filipinos and added he was at the bus station to meet them and offer them a job and housing. He further declined to give BALITA MEDIA more details about the other Filipinos. De Guzman said there were five of them in their apartment and about 10 more Filipinos were being housed in two more units.

De Guzman said it was Aramark which filed for their H-2B visa petition. A copy of De Guzman’s H-2B visa stated that the petitioner was “Aramark Sports LLC” and valid from April 1, 2010 to Nov. 30, 2010. Even De Guzman’s visa issued by the U.S. Embassy in Manila was annotated with the inscription “Aramark Food & Support Services Group Inc.”

The Manila agency that recruited them, according to De Guzman, was Adman Human Resources Placement and Promotions located on Taft Ave. in Manila. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) website stated that the agency’s status has been suspended.

De Guzman’s H-2B petition was good for 33 workers certified by the U.S. Department of Labor for “Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers.” The same Dept. of Labor document showed that De Guzman and 32 others will be working in Luray, Virginia. BALITA MEDIA inquired from DOL about De Guzman and Aramark. The DOL’s public affairs sent an email to BALITA MEDIA that they are “working on this matter  so that we can properly reply to your inquiry.”

BALITA MEDIA called Aramark to find out if they were aware of the status of De Guzman and other Filipinos in Biloxi. BALITA MEDIA also wanted to find out if Aramark indeed filed for their H-2B visas.

BALITA MEDIA called Aramark and left a message for a certain Margaret Kobler, who according to a POEA document, is the human resources manager for Aramark, on Wednesday and on Thursday, and who is also identified as the same person who signed the H-2B petition.

On Friday, BALITA MEDIA received a call from David Freireich of Aramark’s communication department, who had this to say, “Our parks and destinations business does not provide any services in Mississippi and does not employ any seasonal overseas employees in Mississippi. We are committed to complying with the law in all of our hiring practices and policies and are looking into these allegations.”

BALITA MEDIA also called and left messages for Atty. David Barger of Greenberg Traurig LLP, a Maryland-based law firm, which according to Philippine officials, represents Aramark. As of press time, the law firm has yet to return our calls.

(Rhony Laigo is the editor-in-chief of Balita, the leading Filipino-American newspaper  in Southern California. For comments, please email him at rhony@balita.com or visit their website at www.balita.com.) ?

Visit Source

WASHINGTON, August 26, 2010 (AFP) – The U.S. government has issued new rules aimed at halting the deportation of undocumented migrants who are in the process of legalizing their immigration status, according to a memo AFP obtained Thursday.

The measure could affect tens of thousands of people in the United States who have close relatives who are citizens or permanent residents and have filed paperwork to sponsor the stay of the migrants in the United States.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) memo, dated August 20, specifies what officials should do when they detain suspected illegal migrants.

“Where there is an underlying application or petition and ICE determines in the exercise of discretion that a non-detained individual appears eligible for relief from removal,” ICE lawyers “should promptly move to dismiss proceedings,” read the Department of Homeland Security memo.

As of July 2009, ICE identified some 17,000 cases of immigrants deported even though their legalization cases were being processed.

Nearly 40,000 immigrants in fiscal year 2009 – the government year that runs from October to September – obtained U.S. residence thanks to sponsorship from close relatives who were legal residents, according to ICE data.

During the same period U.S. immigration officials deported more than 393,000 illegal immigrants.

ICE chief John Morton has said that the government’s priority is to locate and deport illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

Visit Source

HONG KONG, August 24, 2010 (AFP) – A Hong Kong woman whose husband and two daughters were among eight tourists killed in a bus hostage siege in Manila tearfully blamed Philippine authorities on Tuesday for the tragedy.

The survivor, who identified herself only as Mrs Leung, sat sobbing outside a hospital in Manila after the deaths of her two daughters—aged 14 and 21 — were confirmed.

Her 18-year-old son was in intensive care with a serious head injury, according to media reports.

Leung said her husband was killed during the siege Monday as he tried to stop ex-policeman Rolando Mendoza from attacking other passengers on the tourist bus. The family of five were on holiday together in Manila.

“The Philippine government… I can’t accept this. Why did they do this to us?” she told Hong Kong government representatives who flew to Manila in the aftermath, in comments shown on Cable News TV.

Leung condemned Philippine authorities for intervening only after a 12-hour standoff with Mendoza, a disgruntled former senior officer who wanted his job back with the police force.

“(The gunman) did not want to kill us. He only shot us after the negotiation failed,” she said.

“Why didn’t they give him money? I don’t understand why they couldn’t give him money.”

Leung said she had pretended to be dead on the bus so that she could escape the siege and “take care of my children”.

“But two of them are dead.”

As she was pulled from the bus Monday night, Leung told reporters she did not know the whereabouts of her three children, but said her husband had died a hero.

“He was very brave. He rushed forward to try to prevent the hostage taker from killing people and sacrificed himself,” she said.

The tragedy started when Mendoza, armed with an M-16 assault rifle, hijacked the busload of Hong Kong visitors in Manila’s tourist district.

According to Philippine authorities, negotiations broke down after nightfall when the gunman began shooting the passengers, and commandos stormed the bus.

Police said Mendoza was shot dead by a sniper after he used his captives as “human shields” in the final moments of the siege.

Visit Source

By Mynardo Macaraig

MANILA, August 23, 2010 (AFP) – Philippine security forces stormed a bus full of Hong Kong tourists on Monday to end a dramatic hostage crisis that unfolded live on global television, leaving at least seven people and the gunman dead.

As this developed, the Hong Kong government said Monday it was “very disappointed” about the outcome of a dramatic hostage siege in the Philippine capital which left at least seven Hong Kong tourists dead.

“The outcome is very disappointing. It is a tragedy because a pleasure trip has ended up with casualties and injuries,” the city’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang told a press briefing.

Tsang said he had been unable to reach Philippine President Benigno Aquino and that the Filipino authorities must provide a full account of the deadly incident to the Hong Kong government.

“We have to get the information from the authorities there. Until now I still cannot have a full grasp of the situation. The numbers (of casualties and injured) keep changing.”

The day-long ordeal began when a disgruntled ex-policeman armed with an M-16 assault rifle hijacked the bus in Manila’s tourist district in a desperate bid to get his job back.

Negotiations broke down after nightfall when the gunman, a highly decorated former senior police inspector identified as Rolando Mendoza, began shooting the passengers, and commandos stormed the bus.

Police said Mendoza was shot dead by a sniper after he used his captives as “human shields” in the final moments of the 12-hour standoff.

“I shot two Chinese. I will finish them all if they do not stop,” Mendoza told a local radio station as the police assault was about to get underway.

“I can see a lot of SWAT (special weapons and tactics police) coming in. I know they will kill me. They should all leave because anytime I will do the same here.”

Seven of the Hong Kong tourists were confirmed killed, according to doctors at hospitals in Manila and the Hong Kong government, although exactly how they died was not immediately clear.

Seven tourists, including children, and two Filipinos were freed at various times throughout the day from the bus parked at Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from police headquarters.

The Filipino bus driver jumped out of a window and escaped moments before police stormed the vehicle, with his escape and the rest of the crisis broadcast live on television.

Another four hostages were seen scrambling out of the bus after the siege ended, but the fate of the remaining Hong Kong tourists originally on board the bus remained unknown late on Monday.

The Hong Kong government issued its top-level black travel alert for the Philippines after the crisis ended, but said it was sending in two charter planes to Manila for the families of the hostages.

Police were unable to get inside the bus for more than an hour after negotiations broke down and they decided to storm it.

They encircled the bus, smashed its windows and fired at it, but Mendoza held them off by shooting back.

The crisis eventually ended when police threw tear gas inside the bus, and fired again.

“He used the tourists as human shields. But he panicked and retreated to the front of the bus. He was then met with a valley of gunfire,” the assault team’s leader, Superintendent Nelson Yabut told reporters afterwards.

“One of our snipers managed to shoot him in the head.”

Mendoza, 55, was honoured by police chiefs in 1986 as one of the top 10 officers in the country.

But he was discharged in 2008 for his alleged involvement in drug-related crimes and extortion, and he hijacked the bus in a desperate bid to clear his name, according to police.

“He wants to be reinstated in the service,” Manila district police chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay said early in the day.

Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said the tourists on the bus were aged between four and 72.

They were on a three-day tour with Hong Thai Travel and were scheduled to return to Hong Kong late Monday.

“A serious kidnap incident happened in the Philippines. Hong Kong residents should avoid all travel to the country,” a Hong Kong government spokesman said in a statement.

“Those who are already there should attend to their personal safety and exercise caution.”

Monday’s bus hijack recalled a similar hostage-taking in 2007, when a troubled civil engineer armed with a grenade took over a bus and held 30 children but freed them after a 10-hour standoff with police.

The 2007 drama took place near Manila city hall, just off Rizal Park.

Monday’s tragedy also added to a fast-growing number of attacks of foreigners in the Philippines.

Gunmen shot dead a South Korean man in a separate attack on Monday morning in another section of Manila. Police said the incidents were not related.

Last month, an American, a South African, a Briton and their Filipina partners were killed in spate of murder-robberies in Angeles City north of Manila. The alleged killer was arrested.

Visit Source

Santiago said that, on close study, Congress alone and without the need of presidential action can terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Santiago, citing a US Court ruling, said that Congress was the correct authority to abrogate the treaty and had properly issued the terminating act, on the grounds that a treaty was the law of the land.

“The Constitution states that the country adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land. I humbly submit that, just like any other law, it is within the powers of Congress to unilaterally terminate the VFA through a joint resolution.

The executive’s role is to give notice of termination to the United States, although the decision itself is one for Congress to make,” Santiago said.

The VFA provides for the following manner of termination: “This agreement shall remain in force until the expiration of 180 days from the date on which either party gives the other party notice in writing that it desires to terminate the agreement.”

Santiago, widely acknowledged as an authority in international law, also said that the US has not recognized the VFA as a treaty, because the US Congress has never given its advice and consent to the VFA. According to the senator, the US President merely transmitted to the US Congress the VFA and all other executive agreements.

“The VFA was submitted as a compliance with an American law called the Case-Zablocki Act. This Act requires the US President, through the Secretary of State, to transmit to the US Congress, the international agreements entered into by the US government, or by its officials or agencies, which are not characterized as treaties. Thus, the US government does not characterize the VFA as a treaty,” Santiago said.

“The VFA therefore is not qualified to be valid and constitutional for the reason that it is not recognized as a treaty by the US as a contracting state on the account of its own Constitution and law,” the senator said.

In September last year, the Senate adopted Resolution No. 205 calling for the renegotiation of the VFA, and in case of denial, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should give notice of termination.

According to Santiago, the DFA, despite a commitment it made to conduct a full balanced review of the treaty, has yet to submit the recommendations to the Senate.

“The fatal flaw of the VFA is the failure to specify the period of stay of visiting forces, and the failure to define what are the “activities” that they can engage in while in Philippine national territory. It calls itself a “visiting” agreement, but it has been in force for some 10 years. Its flaws and failures warrant its termination,” Santiago said. ?

Visit Source

MANILA, Aug. 10 (PNA) — Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City on September 24 provides the center of President Benigno Aquino III’s first official foray into international diplomacy and overseas trip as Leader of the Philippines, reliable sources said.

Aquino’s visit at U.N. general headquarters symbolizes the able leadership of the Philippines as this year’s president of last spring’s Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), acknowledged as such by no less than U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, that led to a stronger campaign for U.N. States that are not yet signatories to accede to it.

Also, the 1,040-strong U.N. Disengagement Observe Force (UNDOF) peacekeeping operation in the Golan Heights in the Middle East has Filipino Major-General Natalio C. Ecarma as its Head of Mission and Force Commander. UNDOF is mandated by the U.N. Security Council to observe the ceasefire between Israel and Syria, until December 2010.

When the planned second US-ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Washington are scheduled around the UNGA visit, Aquino will proceed to join that meeting, particularly since he has a standing invitation from the host, President Barack Obama, the sources also said.

In fact, it is quite possible that while in Washington, an Oval visit to the White House would happen, “though, again, that date is not yet calendared,” according to the sources.

At the US-ASEAN Leaders gathering, President Aquino would be the first to deliver an address, the Philippines being the country-representative of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in dialogues with the United States, said the source who requested anonymity.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to Obama’s “high anticipation” of the US-ASEAN meeting “in autumn,” when she attended the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Hanoi last month.

There, she was quoted as saying that the U.S. “see(s) ASEAN and the ASEAN Regional Forum as important pieces of a strong, effective architecture for security and prosperity in Asia.”

By the time President Aquino leaves for the U.S. next month, documents of the Washington-based Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) granting a 434 million U.S. dollars Compact to the Philippines would have been ready for the signatures of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and the MCC, an independent aid agency of the U.S. government that is now chaired by Clinton herself.

Both Philippine and U.S. embassy sources said the exact date of when the signing would be – to be possibly witnessed by President Aquino – is not tabled yet, but it will occur.

The young Aquino administration’s strong commitment to the MCC’s three guiding principles for granting Compact grants – ruling justly, investing in people, and promoting economic freedom — was credited for the eventual approval of the funding this early in his Presidency.

It was a December 2009 Board Meeting of the MCC which decided that the Philippines was eligible for the Compact.

The Philippines, under the category of LMIC (low middle-income countries), got the Compact along with peers Cape Verde, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Moldova and Zambia.

In the long years of the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the groundwork for meeting the overall stringent eligibility standards and criteria of MCC were laid, leading to the raising of the Philippines’ income levels to a LMIC.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said that time is being arranged for Aquino to drop by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Consular Building to have the latter’s biometrics taken for his presidential diplomatic passport.

During his campaign for the presidency and towards the early days of his fledgling government, Aquino had repeatedly remarked that he is not keen on foreign trips that are “maybe unnecessary” and smacks of profligacy.

But now, the President has agreed that, aside from the United Nations and ASEAN-related meetings, his personal attendance is practically de rigueur in summits as the forthcoming ASEM (ASEAN-Europe Meeting, to be held in Brussels in October) and the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Yokohama City in November), the source added. ?

Visit Source

ZAMBOANGA, August 5, 2010 (AFP) – A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up and injured 14 people in an attack on an airport in the restive southern Philippines on Thursday, authorities said.

A local governor who had just disembarked a plane at the Zamboanga airport and was slightly injured in the explosion said he was the intended target of the attack.

“It exploded beside me,” Sakur Tan, the governor of the Sulu island group, near Zamboanga, told reporters from his home afterwards.

“I believe he was a suicide bomber…maybe he was ordered to carry it out and the bomb had a remote trigger mechanism.”

Regional military commander Lieutenant-General Benjamin Dolorfino said authorities were looking into the possible involvement of the Abu Sayyaf, an Al-Qaeda-linked group on the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organizations.

He also indicated that a suicide bomb attack may have occurred.

“The dead person was possibly the bomber,” Dolorfino told AFP.

Local hospital officials told AFP they were treating 14 people for injuries suffered from the blast. The mayor of Zamboanga, Celso Lobregat, said one of the hospitalised victims was seriously wounded.

The attack took place on the eve of a scheduled visit to Zamboanga by the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas, who was set to inspect local projects funded by the US Agency for International Development.

Thomas immediately cancelled his trip and condemned the attack, while offering US assistance in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“Knowing that the (police are) working hard to investigate this tragic incident, and understanding that my visit would require a great deal of security support, I have decided to postpone my travel tomorrow,” he said.

The U.S. military has had about 500 soldiers stationed in the region of Mindanao – one of the strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf that takes in Zamboanga – since early 2002 to train local troops to combat the group.

However the U.S. soldiers are not allowed to have a combat role.

Tan said he suffered minor injuries but refused to be taken to hospital.

“I was hurt, but only slightly,” he said.

Tan said he saw a flash of light moments before the explosion, which occurred at dusk outside the terminal building. Tan and one of his sons, Samir Tan, had just gotten off a plane from Manila.

Samir Tan said the severed head of the suspected bomber slammed into him, but he was otherwise unhurt.

Sakur Tan said the attack may have been in retribution for criminal charges he was filing against “enemies” on the Sulu islands, but he did not name them.

The Sulu islands are another Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

Lobregat said the blast occurred just after the plane carrying the Tans and other passengers had landed and as passengers were leaving the terminal.

The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks, including a ferry bombing that killed over 100 people in Manila Bay in 2004.

It has also conducted a series of kidnappings of both locals and foreigners in the southern Philippines.

However suicide bomb attacks have been rare in the southern Philippines.

Visit Source

In a press conference, De Lima said that the option that the government takes over the management of PAL will only be resorted to just to make sure that the operations of PAL will not stop.

De Lima said that a dialogue will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon between the PAL management and its resigned pilots and personnel aimed at settling their differences.

The PAL pilots, who are members of the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (ALPAP), and flight officers have resigned from PAL allegedly due to low pay, lack of security of tenure and inconducive working conditions.

De Lima said that she has prepared her recommendations about the alternative means by which the government can do if the dialogue between the PAL management and its pilots would not end into a good result.

De Lima said that they are not considering the option of exploring the possibility of having the Cebu Pacific absorb the affected PAL passengers.

However, De Lima is not sure whether Cebu Pacific can absorb all the affected passengers of PAL.

Likewise, De Lima said that one of the reasons why PAL pilots have resigned is due to low salary compared to other airlines.

De Lima believes that the dialogue between both parties – management and employees of PAL, the ALPAP, together with Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus will result to an amicable settlement. ?

Visit Source

Jonathan Gesmundo said four of the national carrier’s 160 daily trips will be discontinued unless the 25 pilots return to work as the airline is demanding, saying they have not honoured their contracts.

“We will try to adjust the schedule by permanently merging some flights, using larger planes while lowering the frequency of flights,” he told AFP.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino has even stepped in, ordering PAL management to meet cabinet officials on Monday to resolve the issue before it affects tourism and travel.

The abrupt resignation of the pilots forced the cancellation of a total of 18 PAL flights on Saturday and Sunday and four domestic flights on Monday, Gesmundo said.

The cancellation of the four domestic flights will be made permanent as it will take almost a year to train replacement pilots, he added.

PAL president Jaime Bautista, in an interview with ABS-CBN television, called on those pilots still in the country to return to work or face charges.

PAL charged that the pilots did not comply with an airline rule to give 180-day prior notice before resigning. It also says the pilots still owed the airline for part of their training costs.

Bautista said that PAL could not compete with the hefty salaries being offered by airlines abroad.

The airline, which flies to Asia, the Middle East, Australia and North America, has been beset by growing labor unrest for months with ground crews and flight attendants threatening strikes.

Visit Source