Acting Labor Secretary Cinta M. Kaipat yesterday said she will look into Sagana’s complaint.
She said she has not personally heard from Sagana and is not aware of the details of his complaint, but appreciates that it was brought to her attention.
Sagana, in an interview on Monday, said he went to Labor’s Enforcement Section for the renewal of his memorandum to find new employer, which Jeff Camacho, the section chief, refused to do.
Sagana said as required by Labor office, he signed in at exactly 10 a.m., and waited for his turn because Camacho was at the time still attending to two guest workers.
To his dismay, Sagana said, Camacho later came out to tell him that he could not renew the memorandum because it was already past 10 a.m.
When Sagana explained that he was on time and should be accommodated, Camacho replied that he was already too busy.
Sagana said he also heard Labor investigator Frank Aguon branding him as a “Mafia advocate.”
Sagana said aside from this defamatory remark, Camacho’s “mistreatment” is an intentional infliction of “emotional distress.”
Sagana said there were many other guest workers given the same treatment.
He said he is now consulting with his attorney regarding possible legal actions to take against Labor.
He said this was exactly the same mistreatment inflicted on Buddhi Dhimal, a former L& T security guard who frequented the Labor office in 2007 to collect his backwages.
After many days of waiting, Dhimal poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire in the hallway of the labor department.
Dhimal suffered third and second degree burns in 50 percent of his body and died on May 28, 2007, the day after he was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in the Philippines after a week of confinement at the Commonwealth Health Center’s intensive care unit.
