Gov't media blitz for jobless OFWs hit

LUCENA CITY -- A militant migrant group has lambasted the media blitz by the Arroyo administration which pictured overseas Filipino workers who were laid off due to the global financial crisis being assisted by the government.

"Contrary to the publicity stunt of President [Gloria Macapagal] Arroyo, the retrenched OFWs from different countries have not received any relief from government and have spent their Christmas worrying how to pay their loans that they left behind," Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante International, said in a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Monday.

Martinez said the red carpet treatment being accorded at the airports to returning contract workers and the assistance package being announced by government through the media has not generated anything but certificates which have been deemed useless to returning laborers prematurely sacked from their jobs.

"Instead of using returning OFWs as media opportunity, President Arroyo should heed the advice of its labor attaché in Taiwan, Rodolfo M. Sabulao, to go after recruitment agencies which excessively charged OFW applicants," Martinez said.

Martinez said that last December 18, Sabulao wrote Philippine Overseas Employment Administrator Jennifer Manalili recommending the government "to do something to ease the pain of the workers by requiring recruitment agencies which deployed the workers to Taiwan to refund the placement fee corresponding to the remaining period in the employment contract."

"Under RA [Republic Act] 8042 or the Magna Carta for Overseas Filipinos, overcharging is tantamount to illegal recruitment. But instead of denouncing the illegal practice, however, POEA officials now serve as apologist for recruiters by persuading OFWs from Taiwan to accept P5,000 as settlement, out of the P95,000 they have paid for their placement fee," Martinez said.

The Migrante official also chided the Arroyo administration for remaining in a "state of denial" when it announced that the Middle East region as a labor market for OFWs was insulated from massive retrenchment due to the global economic crisis.

"Last Christmas Eve the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce stated that thousands of laid off construction workers have applied for visa cancellations. This does not include the 3,000 OFWs who were already laid off in UAE as admitted by Secretary ‘[Marianito] Roque himself," Martinez revealed.

Migrante also launched its petition signing campaign Sunday calling for the sacking of Philippine labor officials in Qatar due to their failure to provide legal assistance to OFWs who were forced to beg from fellow countrymen in Corniche and fish market for their daily subsistence.

"The impact of the global crisis will be more severe by next year. And with the Arroyo administration opting for media gimmicks instead of concretely responding to the immediate needs of OFWs is an alarming indication that more of our kababayans [countrymen] will be forced to become beggars in different countries abroad," Martinez said.

An undetermined number of overseas Filipino workers have lost their jobs due to the global crisis, which, according to the International Labor Organization, could see as many as 20 million people being put out of work by the end of 2009.

However, despite the imminent threats, the government remains optimistic that the effect of the global financial crisis on overseas workers will be minimal.

The POEA data said a total of 1,221,829 OFWs were deployed worldwide from January 1 to November 30.

The POEA said that there were close to half a million job orders that have not been filled; of the number more than 100,000 were new additions from October to December this year. - Delfin Mallari Jr., Southern Luzon Bureau, Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 29, 2008