Philippine legislators, disturbed by continuing reports of human rights and labor abuses against Filipinos employed in the Northern Mariana Islands, are demanding Washington's intervention in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific territory.
In a letter last week to President Clinton, Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo censured the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and asked for federal help in resolving "hundreds of complaints by Filipinos of rape, forced prostitution, physical and mental abuse and non-payment of salaries."In one documented case, a 25-year-old Filipina who was promised a job as a hotel accountant on Rota said her employer instead put her to work as a maid in a secluded ranch house, held her there against her will and repeatedly raped, sodomized and beat her over a three-week period until she managed to escape on Sept 6.
Macapagal-Arroyo, a former Georgetown University classmate of Clinton's, urged the president and Congress to "cut off federal aid" and take control of immigration there.
Another senator, Ernesto Herrera, called for Washington to help end "wanton disregard for the welfare and protection of migrant workers" on the tiny Pacific islands, the biggest of which are Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
The statements followed a threat by commonwealth Gov. Froilan Tenorio to ban Philippine workers because of bad publicity over persistent reports of abuses by native employers.
Philippine and U.S. critics say that despite a lot of talk by the commonwealth recently about curbing the abuses, they appear to be continuing with impunity.
The Tenorio administration has also come under criticism over a new liaison office in Manila, which was set up in September to monitor the recruitment of Filipino contract workers for jobs in the Northern Marianas.
The liaison office was installed on the premises of, and pays $3,000 a month rent to, a Philippine recruitment agency owned by a friend of the governor. The agency, Paras Enterprises, sends hundreds of Filipinos to the commonwealth annually.