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Recruiter to continue hiring nurses despite US row
March 27, 2007
Updated 22:03:38 (Mla time)
THE US-BASED SentosaCare will continue to recruit nurses from the Philippines, despite the company's ongoing legal battle with Filipino nurses who allegedly left their jobs in health care facilities in New York City.
"We still have great confidence in Filipino nurses. We've had very good experience with many Filipino nurses. They are hardworking when they come to America. And they are able to climb the corporate ladder. We take great pride in that," said SentosaCare's chief operating officer Bent Philipson in a press conference Tuesday.
In September last year, 28 Filipino nurses alleged that they were duped into working in hospitals in New York City without receiving the pay and benefits that the Sentosa Recruitment Agency (SRA), SentosaCare's local counterpart, had promised them.
The nurses, most of whom were licensed doctors in the Philippines (including medical board topnotcher Elmer Jacinto), filed a complaint with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and with the National Labor Relations Commission that led to the suspension of SRA's license.
A month later, the suspension was lifted. In a privilege speech, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. named former Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor as SRA's padrino (godfather).
Meanwhile, several nursing home employers in New York filed labor and administrative complaints against the 28 Filipinos for not honoring their contracts and endangering the lives of the patients they left behind.
Of the 28 Filipino nurses who left their jobs, 10 have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and child endangerment charges, including Jacinto.
According to Philipson, the 28 nurses who left the health care facilities are only a small portion of the many Filipino nurses that SentosaCare has successfully placed in the United States.
He also defended Defensor who was criticized for having intervened on behalf of SentosaCare.
Philipson said SentosaCare officials only wrote to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because the Philippine consul officials in New York refused to listen to their side. The letter was referred to Defensor.
SentosaCare officials claimed that they asked Consul General Cecilia Rebong to conduct an investigation of the incident and to talk to other Filipinos. However, Rebong refused to heed their request.
In spite of what happened, Philipson said SentosaCare would continue to focus on recruiting nurses only from the Philippines. The company also refused to be affected by the recent controversy on the leakage in the nursing licensure exam.
Philipson said it was up to Philippine officials to resolve any issue and SentosaCare would abide by their decision.
Francis Luyun, SRA chief executive officer, said the agency was not suffering from any backlash from the controversy stirred by the 28 Filipino nurses.
There is no dearth of applicants, Luyun said.
There are 450 nurses in the Philippines awaiting deployment to the United States. They are just waiting for their visa, he added.
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