Lawmakers belonging to the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs are recommending that the government stop sending domestic helpers to the Gulf region where they are being treated as “modern-day slaves.”

Representatives Luz Ilagan of Gabriela and Carlos Padilla of Nueva Ecija came up with the recommendation after conducting a week-long fact-finding investigation on the status of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in embassy-run shelters in five Middle East states during the break.

Ilagan and Padilla, together with Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, met with Philippine embassy officials and government agencies overseeing the plight of OFWs and interviewed more than 400 “runaway” workers in various shelters in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Amman, Riyadh, and Jeddah.

“We saw for ourselves kung gaano kahirap ang dinaranas ng mga OFWs sa Middle East,” Ilagan told a press conference.

Ilagan said all those in the shelters were victims of illegal recruitment and they have run away from their employers due to unpaid wages, maltreatment and sexual abuses.

Padilla said almost all of the more than 400 OFWs interviewed by them claimed they were maltreated by their employers, eat less than three times a day, being paid less and not on time, overworked, and some of them are victims of rape or sexual harassment.

“If I were to describe the OFWs, aside from being called unsung heroes, I consider them as modern-day slaves,” said Padilla.

Ilagan said, “Alipin at mababa ang tingin sa mga OFWs. The problems we saw are mostly on our domestic helpers.” “We are about to come up with a joint statement telling the government not to send domestic helpers to the Middle East. They are just being confronted as modern-day slaves there,” she added.

Ilagan said they were overwhelmed by the “huge problems faced by OFWs that we don’t know how to go about confronting these.”

The lady lawmaker said all that Congress can do is to come up with legislation that would protect OFWs, especially women.