OFW groups in HK form coalition against POEA circular

Cebu Daily News, inquirer.net
02/07/2008

MANILA—Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong Wednesday formed a coalition to oppose a new regulation on direct hiring issued recently by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Sixty-five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) groups including eight alliances, eight church-based associations, three union chapters and 44 organizations, formed the Samahan Laban sa Katiwalian ng mga Recruitment Agencies at Patakarang (SKRAP MC-04).

Lead convenor United Filipinos (Unifil) in Hong Kong said the coalition would hold protests and launch signature drives to press for the scrapping of the POEA Memorandum Circular No. 04, which, among others required foreign employers to post a repatriation bond of $5,000 plus $3,000 performance bond in hiring an employee from the Philippines.

The performance bond will guarantee payment of the OFW's salary for the duration of his or her job abroad. The repatriation bond will assure that in the event the OFW dies, he or she can be sent back to his or her country.

Unifil chair Dolores Balladares said SKRAP MC-04 will also be calling for more effective mechanisms to stamp out overcharging of fees by recruitment agencies, to scrap the controversial guidelines on recruitment of domestics, and improve services to OFWs.

"POEA MC-04 doesn't, in any way, serve our interest but is only for greater financial gains of unscrupulous recruitment agencies as well as further fattening of government funds that never translate to our well-being," she added.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, another group of OFWs said the Labor Department would better alleviate the burden of OFWs if it just revoked the charging and collection of placement and recruitment fees to OFWs and aspiring overseas workers alike.

The POEA Governing Board will be meeting on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 to discuss MC-04. Migrante-Middle East said that aside from scrapping the circular, POEA should repeal a provision pertaining to charging of placement fees in the rules on landbased recruitment. /Inquirer