The 26 Filipino nurses and one physical therapist who filed a complaint against a recruitment agency for alleged unfair labor practices are crying foul over what they claim to be political interference from both the United States and the Philippine officials.

They accused New York Senator Charles Schumer and Philippine Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor of meddling and interceding in behalf of Sentosa Recruitment Agency.

This “meddling of some political personalities,” the complainants said, caused the lifting of the preventive suspension issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) against Sentosa and the new “hands off” policy of the Consul General office in New York concerning their case.

The nurses and physical therapist expressed their complaints in a letter sent to Consul General Cecilia Rebong, Philippine Overseas Labor Attache Florenda and Executive Director Pedro O. Chan of the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (DFA-OUMWA).

The medical workers said Schumer sent letters to the Consul General and the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency interceding in behalf of Bent Philippson, owner and manager of Sentosa Care, LLC, a healthcare management company based in Woodmere, New York.

The complainants also accused Defensor of calling the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency and having a “long talk” with Consul General Rebong regarding the Sentosa case.

“Even though we are far from home, we are still Filipino citizens. Thus, we sought protection and assistance from your respective offices. We are not financially affluent or politically well-connected to influence the decisions of those in power, but what we have is the wellness of truth behind our claims. If you cannot give us assistance, then to whom do we go to?” the medical workers said in their letter.

“We are fighting a Goliath here, in New York. We understand that our (Phillipine) government does not wish to lose the business it can generate from Sentosa’s operations by bringing Filipino nurses in to the United States. But it does not have to close its eyes when its own people are being exploited by these very same dollar-generating enterprises,” the complainants added.

On April 6, the medical workers through their lawyer, Felix Vinluan, filed charges for discrimination against their respective petitioning employers – Philippson, Sentosa Care, LLC, and Prompt Nursing Employment Agency – before the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

The medical workers claimed that since they arrived in 2004, some of them were made to work in nursing facilities not identified in the contracts; some of them were made to work in jobs not stipulated in the contracts; and all of them were receiving salaries below the standard pay rates, among others.

Five days later, Philippson and his group of companies slapped the complainants with breach of contract, as well as Vinluan and a competing recruitment agency, Juno Healthcare Staffing Services, Inc., for interference of contracts.

The complainants also filed administrative cases against the Philippine-based Sentosa Recruitment Agency for violations of recruitment rules before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

On May 24, POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz issued a preventive suspension order against Sentosa. But on June 8, Baldoz lifted the preventive suspension order.