Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto has directed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh to continue to uphold the government’s One Country-Team Approach (OCTA) and refrain from posting “baseless, irresponsible and malicious” statements on its official social media accounts that undermine efforts to protect and promote the welfare of overseas Filipinos.
“It has come to the attention of the Embassy that POLO used its official social media account (Facebook) to publish statements suggesting that the Embassy, (of) which the POLO is an integral part, and its officials are remiss (in the performance of) their duties and responsibilities as mandated by law,” Alonto said in a December 12, 2020 memorandum obtained by the Manila Bulletin.
The Philippine envoy reminded the POLO office that it operates as an “attached agency” to the Embassy under the OCTA as mandated by the Migrant Workers Act of 1995.
Alonto stressed that POLO should exercise “utmost care and diligence” in the performance of its mandate in coordination with the Embassy even as he warned that any act that undermines the OCTA shall be considered “inimical to the national interest” of serving to protect the rights of overseas Filipinos.
Any violation of such, he added, will be subject to “appropriate administrative sanction, if warranted.”
In his memorandum, the country’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia directed the POLO to immediately take down all statements on its social media accounts that undermine the OCTA and apologize for imputations made against the Embassy due to a “momentary lapse of good judgment.”
Alonto likewise wants the POLO to issue an official statement of its commitment to protecting and promoting the welfare of overseas Filipinos in Saudi Arabia as part of the OCTA team approach.
Lastly, the POLO in Riyadh is being directed to submit a written policy on the responsible use of its social media accounts and explain within 48 hours as to how and who authorized the posting of previous “irresponsible statements” for consideration of administrative sanctions, if deemed appropriate.
The ambassador instructed the POLO-Riyadh to issue only accurate information on its social media accounts and refrain from using it for personal purposes.
It is not clear, however, whether Alonto’s directive was triggered by a recent essay posted on the POLO’s Facebook account entitled “When a nonlawyer does not understand lawyers.”
The said post, which has already been deleted from the POLO’s Facebook page, was particularly critical of an incident involving a Filipino couple who were reportedly detained for almost six hours by the Saudi police as an offshoot of a cyber libel case filed by no less than Philippine Labor Attache to Riyadh Nasser Mustafa.
The Filipino couple being referred to in the said Facebook post were believed to be that of spouses Herbert and Aireen Mayores. The Mayores couple were temporarily released by Saudi authorities through the help and intervention of the Philippine Embassy under its Assistance-to-Nationals program.
The Mayores couple is now challenging the hold departure status issued by the Saudi authorities following the libel case filed by Mustafa.