MANILA - Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) is in the middle of a growing controversy here over his “intervention” on behalf of a recruitment agency in New York which has been sued in New York by 28 Filipino nurses for breach of contract.

Involved in the controversy are Sen. Schumer, the Sentosa Recruitment Agency and its US-based partner, Sentosa Bent Philipson; Malacanang Secretary Michael Defensor, and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel who, in a privilege speech, denounced Defensor for siding with the recruitment agency and opposing the suit of the complaining Filipino nurses.

When the suit was filed last month, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration temporarily suspended the operation of the Sentosa Recruitment. Agency. This suspension was lifted reportedly after Defensor personally intervened on behalf of the agency.

Defensor said he merely followed up the status of the suspension after Sen. Schumer wrote President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo complaining about the kind of treatment the agency was getting from the Philippine government.

 “I did not side with any group or any individual. I just looked at it from the point of view what was fair and in reaction to the letter of Sen. Schumer of New York to the President complaining about the kind of treatment they are getting here,” he said in an interview with reporters in the Palace.

Defensor said Sen. Schumer wrote to the President last June 27 expressing concern about the ongoing legal battle between a small group of Filipino nurses with Sentosa Recruitment Agency and its US-based partner, Sentosa Bent Philipson.

Defensor also admitted that he met with the representatives of Sentosa company last July on the orders of the President, who could not meet them personally. He said the American senator, in his letter, sought the meeting between the President and the Sentosa officials.

In his privilege speech early this month, Pimentel called on the Senate to launch a probe of Defensor’s alleged selling-out of Filipino nurses working under deplorable conditions in New York. “I cannot understand how in the world a department secretary could have the gall to act in a manner that in effect obstructs the interests of justice and causes prejudice to the interests of the people he is sworn to serve,” said Pimentel.

In his speech, Pimentel named Defensor as the ‘’middle man’’ (padrino in local slang) who acted on behalf of New York-based recruitment firm, Sentosa Bent Philipson (SBP), being sued by 28 Filipino nurses for reneging on the terms of their contract.

According to Pimentel, the nurses were initially recruited by Sentosa promising them a good future in New York, including an hourly rate of $ 21 to $ 35, excluding overtime. Also in the contract were medical coverage, relocation and housing allowance, free malpractice  insurance, comprehensive training and generous shift differentials and schedules. ‘’Rosy this contract on paper may have appeared, but the reality was a nightmare for the Filipino nurses when they arrived in New York,’’ said Pimentel.

“When they got to New York, not only did they not get what was promised to them, they were turned over by their original recruiter to Sentosa Bent Philipson,” said Pimentel. SBP then allegedly passed on the nurses to the custody of Sentosa Care, LLC, a healtcare management company that runs nursing homes also in New York state. Pimentel bared that the hapless Filipino nurses were again turned over to a firm called Prompt Nursing Employment Agency/Sentosa Services, which on record appears to be the new actual employer of the complaining nurses. To complicate the matter, this firm is not registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), a violation of Philippine laws.

But instead of getting help from Filipino authorities, the nurses’ hopes for justice reportedly dimmed upon learning that Defensor moved to stop Philippine authorities from suspending Sentosa Recruitment Agency.

This information was relayed to the Senate by the nurses’ counsel, lawyers Felix Vinluan and Tim Calumpung, who moved to renounce the nurses’ contract with Sentosa and to sue for damages.

Initially, the POEA issued on May 24, 2006 an order of preventive suspension against the local agency, Sentosa Recruitment Agency in Manila.  On June 6, 2006, Defensor reportedly called up POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz, but details of the conversation were not known until at least two days later when the POEA lifted the preventive order on Sentosa. “Sec. Defensor at around noon time in New York had a long talk on the phone with Consul General Rebong on the matter of the complaints of the nurses and one physical therapist,” Pimentel revealed in his privilege speech. Defensor was quoted as admitting to talking with Rebong, said a radio report.

The same report also confirmed that Defensor was only acting on behalf of a hundred other nurses whose hopes of working in the US might be jeopardized if the 28 nurses continued with their complaint.

The American senator, in his letter, sought the meeting between the President and the Sentosa officials. Defensor also admitted he called up POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz about the details of the case but denied he influenced her into reversing the suspension order.

“I only asked her the basis for the suspension and when she said it was the case filed in the US, I told her that maybe she should think about the issue and consider the fate of the almost 100 nurses who were supposed to travel abroad," he said.

He said suspension order against the Sentosa recruitment agency had blocked the travel of some 125 Filipino nurses from Manila to work in the New York hospital. He found  “unfair” the automatic suspension of the recruitment agency based on two or more complaints abroad without any complaints filed at the local POEA. Defensor said he is ready to face any congressional inquiry and will ask permission from the President to face any grilling by Pimentel.