MANILA, Philippines—A syndicate involved in large-scale human trafficking of Filipino workers to the United States has been busted, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said Thursday.
Baldoz said charges against ZDrive Inc., a Laguna-based private employment agency, and US Opportunities, an employment services company owned by a certain Mike Lombardi, are already being prepared.
The labor chief identified the 18 victims as Rodolfo Andrade, Ferdinand Antigo, Dennis Belda, Peter Cabusao, Jhoanne Davocol, Eduardo Deytiquez, Lheniehl Florida , Jimmy Hinayo, Theodore Jastillana III, Orlando Lavarnez, Enrico Edmundo Lising, Michael Angelo Maghirang, Jason Magundayao, Wilfredo Mislang, Imie Ramos, Henry Sejera, Regie Tesoro, and Roberto Verzo Jr.
“According to our investigation, the victims were illegally trafficked to the United States and were forced to endure sub-human and sub-standard conditions of work,” she said.
According to the victims, after ZDrive recruited them sometime in 2009, they arrived in the US in winter. In the unfamiliar environment, they were compelled to work in a forest farm under subhuman conditions and forced to sleep in trailers without water and electricity.
Worse, they were allegedly subjected to threats and intimidation, made to rake and bail pine leaves in the dead of winter, and forced to plant 1,800 pine tree seedlings a day on measly, subhuman wages equivalent to $40a week. According to the US Department of Labor, the federal minimum wage for covered non-exempt employees is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009, consistent with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Many states also enforce their minimum wage laws.
Eventually, they found the courage to escape but in good faith, got in touch with ZDrive.
However, instead of helping them, ZDrive instructed them to work in various hotels and entertainment facilities where they were paid below the minimum wage and their wages subjected to illegal deductions.
ZDrive had recruited the unsuspecting victims, who were unwittingly made to pay large fees in exchange for the promise of lucrative employment as food and beverage servers in the United States. During the processing of their applications, however, they were compelled to pay for various requirements such as medical fees, visa application fees, and placement fees. When their passports, with the approved visas, were delivered to ZDrive, allegedly through a certain Julius Bana and a certain Robert Refugio, the agency explained that the total costs they would be shouldering amount to P250,000, which are way beyond the normal legal requirements for OFWs.
Furthermore, ZDrive allegedly demanded that the victims pay the difference between the P250,000 and the expenses already incurred for visa and other fees, so that if a victim had already expended P50,000, he or she would still be required to pay the additional P200,000 to ZDrive. For those who did not have the means to raise the required fees, ZDrive allegedly referred them for loans to their partner lending companies identified as the AsiaLink Finance Corp. and the PJH Lending Corp., for which they were required corresponding collateral such as real estate properties.
Complicating the victims’ sad plight, these companies reportedly resorted to criminally suing the victims-complainants for violation of Batas Pambansa 22, threatening them with foreclosure of the mortgages constituted over the real properties they offered as collaterals for the loans they incurred in exchange for non-existent jobs promised in the US.
Baldoz pledged the complete support of her office so that the victims and their families may get justice.
The syndicates were neutralized after the victims complained to the US Department of Homeland Security. The victims were assisted by US attorney Ellaine Carr, who is affiliated with Catholic charities, and is assisting the victims in the US on a pro bono basis. - INQUIRER.net, September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Immigrant Advocates Pin Hopes on Dream Act
After a summer focused on fighting off Arizona’s hard-line law SB 1070, immigrant advocates are seeking to regain momentum with an all-out push on the Dream Act.
The Dream Act—or Development, Education, and Relief for Alien Minors Act—would provide a chance at legal residency for young undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school.
Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, made a surprise announcement earlier this week that he would seek to bring the act to a vote as an amendment to the annual defense bill.
Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a Democrat, seemed to raise the stakes even further with an announcement the next day that he would introduce a major immigration reform bill before the midterm elections.
However, the current Congress seems too deeply divided for major legislation to get through after two years of rancorous battles over stimulus, health care, and financial regulation.
So it was Reid’s plan for the more narrowly focused Dream Act that triggered the most excitement.
Pro- and anti-immigration groups are asking supporters to call and e-mail their representatives in anticipation of a legislative showdown.
With the Dream Act winning traction and buzz over immigration being heard on Capitol Hill, immigrants and their advocates again feel like they’re in the driver’s seat, said Shuya Ohno of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
“The anti-immigrant groups are on the defensive and are lashing out,” Ohno said.
The Dream Act’s detractors characterize it as an attempt to pander to Hispanic voters with a watered-down immigration amnesty.
The act “has the potential to immediately legalize millions and also result in the admission of millions more immigrants for years to come via chain migration,” said Jon Feere, an analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that opposes more immigration.
Freere’s figures are exaggerated, Dream Act supporters contend.
The National Immigration Law Center estimates the number of high school students graduating each year who might qualify for the act at 65,000.
Even if the act were to include high school graduates over an extended interval—a recent version of the bill includes immigrants presently aged 12 to 35—the pool of potential Dream Act beneficiaries would number just under 1.5 million.
And since many immigrants would not apply—either because they lack interest in pursuing college, or are disqualified due to criminal records or deportation orders—the number of beneficiaries would likely be far lower.
“We’re extremely hopeful,” said Natalia Aristizabal, Dream Act organizer at Make the Road New York (MRNY), a grassroots immigrant rights group based in the borough of Queens.
A strong involvement by immigrant students and youth, particularly in the last year, helped keep the Dream Act present in legislators’ minds, she said.
“A bigger proportion of the population affected is fighting for it,” she said.
To benefit from the Dream Act, undocumented immigrant high school graduates must attend college or serve in the military.
They also need to have entered the United States at age 15 or younger and prove they’ve resided in the country for five years or more.
One young person who stands to benefit is Francisco Curiel.
The 18-year-old New York City resident came from Mexico three years ago, and is now a high school senior who also plays on a soccer team and holds down weekend food delivery jobs to help his family pay the bills.
In addition, Curiel himself has helped educate young people about the Dream Act as a youth organizer at MRNY.
The Dream Act would make it possible for him to access student loans and scholarships to attend college, loans he’s now barred from as an undocumented immigrant, Curiel said.
“I want to work, and contribute what I can to this country,” he said.
If the Dream Act does come up for a vote in the Senate—it needs to attract at least one Republican vote to do so—it would become the first major stand-alone piece of immigration policy to advance that far during the Obama administration.
However, the Dream Act has a history of failing to muster enough support at the last moment.
In 2007, the Dream Act was derailed by a narrow eight-vote margin in the U.S. Senate, despite the backing of prominent Democrats and Republicans, many of whom are still in Congress.
Again and again, the bill has attracted bipartisan support only to be stopped by a small core of Republican opponents.
This week, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said Reid’s advocacy of the Dream Act was purely motivated by his desire to attract Hispanic voters in Nevada. Sen. Reid faces a strong challenge in November from a Tea Party-backed Republican opponent, Sharron Angle.
Several Republican senators joined McConnell in criticizing Reid for attaching the Dream Act to the defense bill when it has little to do with war or security issues.
Given that at least one Republican must join Democrats to gain the 60 votes needed to advance the Dream Act, it’s very possible that it will again be defeated.
“Anything is possible,” said Ohno, of the National Immigration Forum.
Source: http://newamericamedia.org/2010/09/immigrant-advocates-pin-hopes-on-dream-act.php#
The Dream Act—or Development, Education, and Relief for Alien Minors Act—would provide a chance at legal residency for young undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school.
Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, made a surprise announcement earlier this week that he would seek to bring the act to a vote as an amendment to the annual defense bill.
Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a Democrat, seemed to raise the stakes even further with an announcement the next day that he would introduce a major immigration reform bill before the midterm elections.
However, the current Congress seems too deeply divided for major legislation to get through after two years of rancorous battles over stimulus, health care, and financial regulation.
So it was Reid’s plan for the more narrowly focused Dream Act that triggered the most excitement.
Pro- and anti-immigration groups are asking supporters to call and e-mail their representatives in anticipation of a legislative showdown.
With the Dream Act winning traction and buzz over immigration being heard on Capitol Hill, immigrants and their advocates again feel like they’re in the driver’s seat, said Shuya Ohno of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
“The anti-immigrant groups are on the defensive and are lashing out,” Ohno said.
The Dream Act’s detractors characterize it as an attempt to pander to Hispanic voters with a watered-down immigration amnesty.
The act “has the potential to immediately legalize millions and also result in the admission of millions more immigrants for years to come via chain migration,” said Jon Feere, an analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that opposes more immigration.
Freere’s figures are exaggerated, Dream Act supporters contend.
The National Immigration Law Center estimates the number of high school students graduating each year who might qualify for the act at 65,000.
Even if the act were to include high school graduates over an extended interval—a recent version of the bill includes immigrants presently aged 12 to 35—the pool of potential Dream Act beneficiaries would number just under 1.5 million.
And since many immigrants would not apply—either because they lack interest in pursuing college, or are disqualified due to criminal records or deportation orders—the number of beneficiaries would likely be far lower.
“We’re extremely hopeful,” said Natalia Aristizabal, Dream Act organizer at Make the Road New York (MRNY), a grassroots immigrant rights group based in the borough of Queens.
A strong involvement by immigrant students and youth, particularly in the last year, helped keep the Dream Act present in legislators’ minds, she said.
“A bigger proportion of the population affected is fighting for it,” she said.
To benefit from the Dream Act, undocumented immigrant high school graduates must attend college or serve in the military.
They also need to have entered the United States at age 15 or younger and prove they’ve resided in the country for five years or more.
One young person who stands to benefit is Francisco Curiel.
The 18-year-old New York City resident came from Mexico three years ago, and is now a high school senior who also plays on a soccer team and holds down weekend food delivery jobs to help his family pay the bills.
In addition, Curiel himself has helped educate young people about the Dream Act as a youth organizer at MRNY.
The Dream Act would make it possible for him to access student loans and scholarships to attend college, loans he’s now barred from as an undocumented immigrant, Curiel said.
“I want to work, and contribute what I can to this country,” he said.
If the Dream Act does come up for a vote in the Senate—it needs to attract at least one Republican vote to do so—it would become the first major stand-alone piece of immigration policy to advance that far during the Obama administration.
However, the Dream Act has a history of failing to muster enough support at the last moment.
In 2007, the Dream Act was derailed by a narrow eight-vote margin in the U.S. Senate, despite the backing of prominent Democrats and Republicans, many of whom are still in Congress.
Again and again, the bill has attracted bipartisan support only to be stopped by a small core of Republican opponents.
This week, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said Reid’s advocacy of the Dream Act was purely motivated by his desire to attract Hispanic voters in Nevada. Sen. Reid faces a strong challenge in November from a Tea Party-backed Republican opponent, Sharron Angle.
Several Republican senators joined McConnell in criticizing Reid for attaching the Dream Act to the defense bill when it has little to do with war or security issues.
Given that at least one Republican must join Democrats to gain the 60 votes needed to advance the Dream Act, it’s very possible that it will again be defeated.
“Anything is possible,” said Ohno, of the National Immigration Forum.
Source: http://newamericamedia.org/2010/09/immigrant-advocates-pin-hopes-on-dream-act.php#
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Migration for work is now a permanent feature of the job market
There were emphatic and asser-tive, albeit convivial, discussions at the regional technical training on skills assessment of migrant workers held in Bangkok last week under the auspices of the International Labor Organization and sponsored by the Korean Government. The comments and recommendations were summarized by resource person David Lythe from New Zealand, ILO skills and employability specialist and Bangkok-based Sandra Roethbeck, and our own TESDA executive director for competency assessment and certification Gabby Bordado.
• There should be continuing meetings and studies by ASEAN member-countries of the proposed Returning Migrant Certification of Skills (RMCS) and its comparability or equivalency to their respective national competency or skills standards.
• The assessments and certification from specific ASEAN member-countries should be recognized based on the comparability of such respective national skills standards. This can be done initially on bilateral basis (e. g., current arrangements between Japan and Philippines under JPEPA).
• Eventually under ILO auspices, the ASEAN countries can mutually recognize the RMCS as the common basis for their respective national skills/competency standards.
• Hand in hand with these efforts the member-countries can establish and develop their respective national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) which can further facilitate the mutual recognition arrangements (MRA) within ASEAN.
• In the longer term, the ASEAN with assistance from institutions such as ILO and UNESCO can evolve their own regional qualifications framework (RQF) similar to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the case of Southern African community.
• The RMCS together with competency-based assessment and certification and the efforts toward establishing NQFs should be supported, promoted and accepted as an instrument toward MRA and greater labor mobility within ASEAN. There should be continuing meetings and dialogues and agreements, either on bilateral or multilateral basis, region-wide or sub-region-wide (e. g., through groupings such as BIMP-EAGA or the Mekong delta region) toward this end.
• Migration for work is not a short term phenomenon but permanent feature and needs to be addressed as such.
• Acknowledgement through the workshop of the value for support services for migrant workers and innovative examples from Korea and Sri Lanka to name a few.
• Recognition of the value of maximizing the new skills of returning migrant workers at the re-integration point. It would be wasteful not to optimize effective utilization by the labor market.
• Acceptance that ‘guidelines’ are needed but there are many different ways to achieve skills recognition. Yet, there is a need for ‘guidelines’ which contribute towards mutual skills recognition amongst countries.
• Acceptance of the importance of RMCS to contribute to skills recognition.
• RMCS must be better known and promoted at national level; there is need for awareness.
• Capacity Building of National Agencies and Social Partners in the use of RMCS and development of National Competency Standards
• Guidelines in principle are supported. Significant editing has been proposed; e.g.
– Objectives to be clear and in line with ILO Declaration and DW agenda.
– New Agency not required unless necessary.
– More clarity required on constituents roles
– More recognition for the informal sector and low-skilled workers (e.g. domestic workers)
– Acknowledgement of the full involvement of all Constituents in all aspects of skills recognition (Standard development, Assessment, Portfolio development, training etc.)
– Role of Social Partners—government, workers and employers—need to be articulated more clearly to promote synergy, partnership and full involvement.
– Encourage institutionalization of bilateral cooperation at constituents’ level of both sending and receiving countries: employers, workers and government organizations. More cooperation is encouraged for natural Movements of Workers.
– Networking and sharing of experiences and good practices amongst Skills-AP Network Members advocated—and will hopefully continue
– Involvement of Employers in Receiving Countries: Skills needs? Mechanisms?
There. Our mandate as participants was to be fair and square to workers and employers and to lay down guidelines for workers to enjoy decent work and decent life through beneficial agreements between governments and employers.
In simple terms, workers are encouraged to continuously improve their knowledge and skills, document such improvements by both employers and workers and have these certificated by proper government agencies. When workers come home from overseas work, they bring home with them new knowledge and skills that are useful for our own industries. Governments and employers are urged to abide by guidelines, common to both sending and receiving counties, for recognizing these competencies and reintegrating returning migrant workers to the local job market.
Their take-home competencies could help local companies become more productive, competitive and profitable and, therefore, able to secure more jobs near home. When they decide to work abroad again, workers could look forward to getting decent compensation package and work environment. - MOJE RAMOS-AQUINO, FPM, Saturday, 25 September 2010
Feedback to innovationcamp@yahoo.com
• There should be continuing meetings and studies by ASEAN member-countries of the proposed Returning Migrant Certification of Skills (RMCS) and its comparability or equivalency to their respective national competency or skills standards.
• The assessments and certification from specific ASEAN member-countries should be recognized based on the comparability of such respective national skills standards. This can be done initially on bilateral basis (e. g., current arrangements between Japan and Philippines under JPEPA).
• Eventually under ILO auspices, the ASEAN countries can mutually recognize the RMCS as the common basis for their respective national skills/competency standards.
• Hand in hand with these efforts the member-countries can establish and develop their respective national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) which can further facilitate the mutual recognition arrangements (MRA) within ASEAN.
• In the longer term, the ASEAN with assistance from institutions such as ILO and UNESCO can evolve their own regional qualifications framework (RQF) similar to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the case of Southern African community.
• The RMCS together with competency-based assessment and certification and the efforts toward establishing NQFs should be supported, promoted and accepted as an instrument toward MRA and greater labor mobility within ASEAN. There should be continuing meetings and dialogues and agreements, either on bilateral or multilateral basis, region-wide or sub-region-wide (e. g., through groupings such as BIMP-EAGA or the Mekong delta region) toward this end.
• Migration for work is not a short term phenomenon but permanent feature and needs to be addressed as such.
• Acknowledgement through the workshop of the value for support services for migrant workers and innovative examples from Korea and Sri Lanka to name a few.
• Recognition of the value of maximizing the new skills of returning migrant workers at the re-integration point. It would be wasteful not to optimize effective utilization by the labor market.
• Acceptance that ‘guidelines’ are needed but there are many different ways to achieve skills recognition. Yet, there is a need for ‘guidelines’ which contribute towards mutual skills recognition amongst countries.
• Acceptance of the importance of RMCS to contribute to skills recognition.
• RMCS must be better known and promoted at national level; there is need for awareness.
• Capacity Building of National Agencies and Social Partners in the use of RMCS and development of National Competency Standards
• Guidelines in principle are supported. Significant editing has been proposed; e.g.
– Objectives to be clear and in line with ILO Declaration and DW agenda.
– New Agency not required unless necessary.
– More clarity required on constituents roles
– More recognition for the informal sector and low-skilled workers (e.g. domestic workers)
– Acknowledgement of the full involvement of all Constituents in all aspects of skills recognition (Standard development, Assessment, Portfolio development, training etc.)
– Role of Social Partners—government, workers and employers—need to be articulated more clearly to promote synergy, partnership and full involvement.
– Encourage institutionalization of bilateral cooperation at constituents’ level of both sending and receiving countries: employers, workers and government organizations. More cooperation is encouraged for natural Movements of Workers.
– Networking and sharing of experiences and good practices amongst Skills-AP Network Members advocated—and will hopefully continue
– Involvement of Employers in Receiving Countries: Skills needs? Mechanisms?
There. Our mandate as participants was to be fair and square to workers and employers and to lay down guidelines for workers to enjoy decent work and decent life through beneficial agreements between governments and employers.
In simple terms, workers are encouraged to continuously improve their knowledge and skills, document such improvements by both employers and workers and have these certificated by proper government agencies. When workers come home from overseas work, they bring home with them new knowledge and skills that are useful for our own industries. Governments and employers are urged to abide by guidelines, common to both sending and receiving counties, for recognizing these competencies and reintegrating returning migrant workers to the local job market.
Their take-home competencies could help local companies become more productive, competitive and profitable and, therefore, able to secure more jobs near home. When they decide to work abroad again, workers could look forward to getting decent compensation package and work environment. - MOJE RAMOS-AQUINO, FPM, Saturday, 25 September 2010
Feedback to innovationcamp@yahoo.com
6-month amnesty for overstaying aliens in Saudi
MANILA, Philippines—The Saudi government has granted a six-month amnesty for overstaying foreigners, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said in a news release.
The amnesty ordered by King Abdullah bin Abdulazziz Al-Saud paves the way for the so-called illegals, including Filipinos, to go home to their home countries without any punishment, she said.
Citing a report by Al-Khobar-based Philippine Labor Attache David Des Dicang, Baldoz said the pardon would cover all foreigners who arrived in Saudi Arabia on Haj, Umrah, visit visa, or any other type of visa which had expired, or those who have violated passport regulations.
“This is, indeed, very good news for Filipino ‘illegals’ in Saudi Arabia,” Baldoz said.
The Saudi Interior Ministry has advised “illegal stayers” to leave the kingdom from September 25, 2010 to March 23, 2011 and can start by reporting to the nearest office of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and completing the necessary procedures for their departure, news reports in Saudi newspapers said.
Dicang said violators caught after this grace period will receive severe punishment including jail time and heavy fines. “The punishment will extend to those who transport or shelter or employ overstayers,” he said.
“We are grateful for this act of charity by the Saudi King,” Baldoz said.
This amnesty will make it easier for the Philippine government to abide by the instructions of President Benigno Aquino III to expand the government’s protection of all distressed overseas Filipino workers. The order includes bringing home stranded Filipinos in Saudi.
Since July, the Department and Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment, through its labor attaches and the welfare officers of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, have been working double time to repatriate Filipinos not only in Saudi Arabia, but also those in other Middle East countries.
From July 10 to September 1 this year, the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in Jeddah, Kuwait, and Bahrain have repatriated 773 Filipinos, including children of OFWs. Seven hundred and three of them were repatriated from Jeddah.
The Philippines had spent P15 million in repatriation costs.
“We enjoin overstaying Filipinos in Saudi Arabia to take advantage and avail of the amnesty so they can go home to the Philippines,” Baldoz said, even as she directed all labor attaches and welfare officers in the Kingdom to lend a helping hand to facilitate the departure of those who will avail of the pardon.
She also directed them to address the root cause of why Filipinos overstay. “Do the best you can to implement strictly our reform program, particularly on the recruitment and deployment of household service workers,” she said. - INQUIRER.net, September 23, 2010
The amnesty ordered by King Abdullah bin Abdulazziz Al-Saud paves the way for the so-called illegals, including Filipinos, to go home to their home countries without any punishment, she said.
Citing a report by Al-Khobar-based Philippine Labor Attache David Des Dicang, Baldoz said the pardon would cover all foreigners who arrived in Saudi Arabia on Haj, Umrah, visit visa, or any other type of visa which had expired, or those who have violated passport regulations.
“This is, indeed, very good news for Filipino ‘illegals’ in Saudi Arabia,” Baldoz said.
The Saudi Interior Ministry has advised “illegal stayers” to leave the kingdom from September 25, 2010 to March 23, 2011 and can start by reporting to the nearest office of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and completing the necessary procedures for their departure, news reports in Saudi newspapers said.
Dicang said violators caught after this grace period will receive severe punishment including jail time and heavy fines. “The punishment will extend to those who transport or shelter or employ overstayers,” he said.
“We are grateful for this act of charity by the Saudi King,” Baldoz said.
This amnesty will make it easier for the Philippine government to abide by the instructions of President Benigno Aquino III to expand the government’s protection of all distressed overseas Filipino workers. The order includes bringing home stranded Filipinos in Saudi.
Since July, the Department and Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment, through its labor attaches and the welfare officers of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, have been working double time to repatriate Filipinos not only in Saudi Arabia, but also those in other Middle East countries.
From July 10 to September 1 this year, the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in Jeddah, Kuwait, and Bahrain have repatriated 773 Filipinos, including children of OFWs. Seven hundred and three of them were repatriated from Jeddah.
The Philippines had spent P15 million in repatriation costs.
“We enjoin overstaying Filipinos in Saudi Arabia to take advantage and avail of the amnesty so they can go home to the Philippines,” Baldoz said, even as she directed all labor attaches and welfare officers in the Kingdom to lend a helping hand to facilitate the departure of those who will avail of the pardon.
She also directed them to address the root cause of why Filipinos overstay. “Do the best you can to implement strictly our reform program, particularly on the recruitment and deployment of household service workers,” she said. - INQUIRER.net, September 23, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
RP agencies scored for ‘illegal’ rider in Taiwan OFWs’ contract
Migrants’ rights groups have slammed two agencies of the Philippine government for allowing an “illegal" provision to be added to the employment contract of the 13 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Taiwan who have raised it as one of their labor issues.
The Asian Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) scored the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan (MECO) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for letting the 13 OFWs sign an addendum in their contract, which they said was declared illegal under Taiwanese law since 1999.
According to a CBCP News article, the APMM said the addendum required OFWs to pay 2,500 New Taiwan Dollars (about P3,400) for their food, accommodation and airfare to and from Taiwan.
APMM director Ramon Bultron said that by allowing the addendum to be part of the workers’ contract, both the MECO, the Philippines’ representative office in Taiwan, and the POEA are party to the crime of human trafficking.
The addendum, the article added, was signed by the workers’ company, AV Tech Corporation; two brokerage firms from Manila and from Taiwan; and the OFWs.
Through negotiations facilitated by the Taiwanese Bureau of Labor Affairs (BLA), the 13 OFWs were able to pressure their employer to give in to 10 of their 12 demands, including returning the employees’ passports and updating their pay slips, which were delayed by two to three months, according to Migrante-Taiwan which assisted the workers.
Addendum was “valid"
While the OFWs have asserted that the addendum is contradictory to labor standards and prejudicial to the interests of the migrant workers, the BLA, which currently hears the OFWs’ complaints, has said the addendum was legal.
In a separate interview, MECO Labor Affairs director Reydeluz Conferido also said the addendum was “valid".
“Contracts can be amended to improve their provisions and to make them suited to existing conditions," Conferido said.
He explained that both Philippine and Taiwanese labor laws provide that contracts may be amended, provided it is allowed by pertinent government agencies and that all signatories agree to the amendments.
Taiwanese labor laws, he noted, likewise allows renegotiation of contracts, including provisions on wages, especially if it is proven that the company was affected by an economic recession.
Group demands removal of MECO worker
As this developed, Migrante-Taiwan chairperson David Chang accused an employee of MECO of working against the interests of the workers and demanded that she be removed from her post.
In a separate statement, Chang said Gina Lin, a translator for the MECO’s labor office, insisted that she be one of the negotiators in the conciliation, and asked that Chang and another Migrante official to present their alien residence certificate (ARC) to the BLA for proper identification.
Chang said they refused Lin’s request, which they described as “irresponsible", as showing their ARC will expose their address to both the company and the brokerage agency and make them vulnerable to retaliation.
“As the negotiations pushed through, we found out that Lin was a former employee of the brokerage agency being accused of labor malpractice. It was she who earlier told the complainants that the MECO cannot help them on their case and that it takes two weeks for the National Immigration Agency to provide them shelter," Chang said in the statement.
The BLA later sided with Migrante and the workers, and barred Lin from participating in the negotiations.
According to Conferido, he sent Lin to be MECO’s official representative in the conciliatory talks.
Lin’s request, Conferido said, was valid as they had to determine Migrante’s authority to represent the workers and participate in the negotiations.
Conferido added they have yet to verify the reported decision of the BLA in favor of the workers.
GMANews.TV tried to contact POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili but her phone was unattended.
Meanwhile, the APMM asked the Philippine government to disallow the signing of an addendum to employment contracts, and to immediately investigate the incident and prosecute officials who allowed illegal amendments to contracts.
“It is bad enough that the Aquino administration has slashed the legal assistance budget for OFWs by half. Allowing labor exploitation to be put into paper is another," Bultron said. — JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV, September 22, 2010
The Asian Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) scored the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan (MECO) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for letting the 13 OFWs sign an addendum in their contract, which they said was declared illegal under Taiwanese law since 1999.
According to a CBCP News article, the APMM said the addendum required OFWs to pay 2,500 New Taiwan Dollars (about P3,400) for their food, accommodation and airfare to and from Taiwan.
APMM director Ramon Bultron said that by allowing the addendum to be part of the workers’ contract, both the MECO, the Philippines’ representative office in Taiwan, and the POEA are party to the crime of human trafficking.
The addendum, the article added, was signed by the workers’ company, AV Tech Corporation; two brokerage firms from Manila and from Taiwan; and the OFWs.
Through negotiations facilitated by the Taiwanese Bureau of Labor Affairs (BLA), the 13 OFWs were able to pressure their employer to give in to 10 of their 12 demands, including returning the employees’ passports and updating their pay slips, which were delayed by two to three months, according to Migrante-Taiwan which assisted the workers.
Addendum was “valid"
While the OFWs have asserted that the addendum is contradictory to labor standards and prejudicial to the interests of the migrant workers, the BLA, which currently hears the OFWs’ complaints, has said the addendum was legal.
In a separate interview, MECO Labor Affairs director Reydeluz Conferido also said the addendum was “valid".
“Contracts can be amended to improve their provisions and to make them suited to existing conditions," Conferido said.
He explained that both Philippine and Taiwanese labor laws provide that contracts may be amended, provided it is allowed by pertinent government agencies and that all signatories agree to the amendments.
Taiwanese labor laws, he noted, likewise allows renegotiation of contracts, including provisions on wages, especially if it is proven that the company was affected by an economic recession.
Group demands removal of MECO worker
As this developed, Migrante-Taiwan chairperson David Chang accused an employee of MECO of working against the interests of the workers and demanded that she be removed from her post.
In a separate statement, Chang said Gina Lin, a translator for the MECO’s labor office, insisted that she be one of the negotiators in the conciliation, and asked that Chang and another Migrante official to present their alien residence certificate (ARC) to the BLA for proper identification.
Chang said they refused Lin’s request, which they described as “irresponsible", as showing their ARC will expose their address to both the company and the brokerage agency and make them vulnerable to retaliation.
“As the negotiations pushed through, we found out that Lin was a former employee of the brokerage agency being accused of labor malpractice. It was she who earlier told the complainants that the MECO cannot help them on their case and that it takes two weeks for the National Immigration Agency to provide them shelter," Chang said in the statement.
The BLA later sided with Migrante and the workers, and barred Lin from participating in the negotiations.
According to Conferido, he sent Lin to be MECO’s official representative in the conciliatory talks.
Lin’s request, Conferido said, was valid as they had to determine Migrante’s authority to represent the workers and participate in the negotiations.
Conferido added they have yet to verify the reported decision of the BLA in favor of the workers.
GMANews.TV tried to contact POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili but her phone was unattended.
Meanwhile, the APMM asked the Philippine government to disallow the signing of an addendum to employment contracts, and to immediately investigate the incident and prosecute officials who allowed illegal amendments to contracts.
“It is bad enough that the Aquino administration has slashed the legal assistance budget for OFWs by half. Allowing labor exploitation to be put into paper is another," Bultron said. — JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV, September 22, 2010
20,000 workers needed yearly in Manitoba by 2016 -- labor chief
MANILA, Philippines—In need of workers from plumbers to carpenters to engineers, the provincial government of Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday morning signed an agreement with the labor department to deploy overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the province.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger signed the agreement at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel which provides a framework of partnership in the recruitment of skilled OFWs to Manitoba, as well as in their protection and their skills development.
"For us, it's an equal partnership. Nobody's better than the other," Selinger said.
Due to its low birth rate and aging population, Manitoba will need around 20,000 new workers annually by 2016, according to Baldoz.
"In the next thee years, the number of retirements is expected to increase by 30 percent and the need for more workers, including the transfer of work-based knowledge, will be very critical to Manitoba's labor force stability," Baldoz said.
"Also, I understand that Manitoba has low birth and unemployment rates and the province looks at annual immigration targets (of) around 20,000 by 2016 to shore up its manpower banks. Current arrivals number only a little half of the yearly target," she added.
Baldoz said that, of the 613,593 Filipinos in Canada as of 2008, around 50,000 to 60,000 were in Manitoba.
"As Secretary Baldoz said, many of our existing labor forces are five to 10 years away from retirement. (This is) the baby boomer generation. (So) this opens up opportunities all across the board—in the trades like carpentry, plumbing, electricians," Selinger said.
"This also opens up opportunities in the professions—engineers, accountants, medical professionals, nurses and doctors. We believe we'll have opportunities all across the labor spectrum in Manitoba," he added.
Selinger said skilled OFWs in Manitoba could opt for Candian citizenship six months after their arrival there. - Philip Tubeza, Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 21, 2010
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger signed the agreement at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel which provides a framework of partnership in the recruitment of skilled OFWs to Manitoba, as well as in their protection and their skills development.
"For us, it's an equal partnership. Nobody's better than the other," Selinger said.
Due to its low birth rate and aging population, Manitoba will need around 20,000 new workers annually by 2016, according to Baldoz.
"In the next thee years, the number of retirements is expected to increase by 30 percent and the need for more workers, including the transfer of work-based knowledge, will be very critical to Manitoba's labor force stability," Baldoz said.
"Also, I understand that Manitoba has low birth and unemployment rates and the province looks at annual immigration targets (of) around 20,000 by 2016 to shore up its manpower banks. Current arrivals number only a little half of the yearly target," she added.
Baldoz said that, of the 613,593 Filipinos in Canada as of 2008, around 50,000 to 60,000 were in Manitoba.
"As Secretary Baldoz said, many of our existing labor forces are five to 10 years away from retirement. (This is) the baby boomer generation. (So) this opens up opportunities all across the board—in the trades like carpentry, plumbing, electricians," Selinger said.
"This also opens up opportunities in the professions—engineers, accountants, medical professionals, nurses and doctors. We believe we'll have opportunities all across the labor spectrum in Manitoba," he added.
Selinger said skilled OFWs in Manitoba could opt for Candian citizenship six months after their arrival there. - Philip Tubeza, Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 21, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
1,500 seafaring jobs up for grabs as RP celebrates National Maritime Week
An estimated 1,500 seafaring jobs will be up for grabs this Sept. 23 and 24 as the Philippines, the world’s leading supplier of skilled seafaring labor, celebrates National Maritime Week.
The event aptly called “Ang Lakas Mo Marino! 2010 Seafarers’ Job and Wellness Fair” will be held at University Activity Center of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, in Intramuros.
The two-day event managed by Buhay Marino, one of the country’s most reputable maritime publications, will open shop between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission is free for persons interested to participate in the job seeking activity.
Eric Arevalo, job fair manager and editor-in-chief of the publication, said 25 major manning agencies will be participating in the event.
Aside from providing work to vacationing seafarers, Arevalo said the job fair also features financial literacy seminars and other related activities sponsored by the Philippine Stock Exchange and health and wellness tips from nutrition specialists of Nestle Philippines.
“Aside from providing livelihood opportunities for our seafarers, we will also be giving them a chance to better themselves financially and physically,” he stressed.
Arevalo added it is only fitting that Buhay Marino give something back to the industry and people responsible for its steady growth in the past eight years.
Buhay Marino was established by former seaman, Chief Mate Rene Sangalang, in September 2002.
The publication aims to educate and provide the country’s estimated 300,000 seafarers with the latest maritime news and developments in the manning industry.
The Maritime Week celebrations are embodied under Presidential Proclamation No. 1560 dated July 17, 2008 with the end view of promoting maritime awareness to the public.
It is also in conjunction with the World Maritime Day’s theme: “2010: Year of the Seafarer”. - US News Agency / Asian
The event aptly called “Ang Lakas Mo Marino! 2010 Seafarers’ Job and Wellness Fair” will be held at University Activity Center of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, in Intramuros.
The two-day event managed by Buhay Marino, one of the country’s most reputable maritime publications, will open shop between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission is free for persons interested to participate in the job seeking activity.
Eric Arevalo, job fair manager and editor-in-chief of the publication, said 25 major manning agencies will be participating in the event.
Aside from providing work to vacationing seafarers, Arevalo said the job fair also features financial literacy seminars and other related activities sponsored by the Philippine Stock Exchange and health and wellness tips from nutrition specialists of Nestle Philippines.
“Aside from providing livelihood opportunities for our seafarers, we will also be giving them a chance to better themselves financially and physically,” he stressed.
Arevalo added it is only fitting that Buhay Marino give something back to the industry and people responsible for its steady growth in the past eight years.
Buhay Marino was established by former seaman, Chief Mate Rene Sangalang, in September 2002.
The publication aims to educate and provide the country’s estimated 300,000 seafarers with the latest maritime news and developments in the manning industry.
The Maritime Week celebrations are embodied under Presidential Proclamation No. 1560 dated July 17, 2008 with the end view of promoting maritime awareness to the public.
It is also in conjunction with the World Maritime Day’s theme: “2010: Year of the Seafarer”. - US News Agency / Asian
Monday, September 20, 2010
Many OFW dream houses in ‘Little Italy’ still empty
MABINI, BATANGAS—Mediterranean-inspired, pastel-colored houses dot the coast and hills of this rural town in Batangas province, dwarfing their traditional counterparts made of unpainted concrete blocks under roofs of corrugated zinc.
The larger houses, many of them empty, belong to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who plan to return here one day.
Despite their absence, the OFWs have contributed money to help build roads, schools, water grids and other infrastructure usually handled by local governments. They pay for annual fiestas that were traditionally financed by municipalities, churches and local businesses.
Thanks to OFWs, Mabini became a “first-class” municipality last year in a government ranking of towns nationwide, leaping from just a “third-class” town.
In one barangay nicknamed Little Italy, where a quarter of the 1,200 residents are working in Italy, the OFWs shouldered 20 percent of the cost to construct a public hall.
“We couldn’t have finished it without the OFWs,” the barangay chair, Raymundo Magsino, 64, said in an interview inside the building.
OFW remittances, which the government says have been steadily rising sharply from $7.6 billion in 2003 to $17.3 billion in 2009, now account for more than 10 percent of the Philippine gross domestic product. The remittances are also the main factor driving the country’s recent economic growth, which would have otherwise remained stagnant.
OFWs, who typically work as maids, nurses or service workers abroad, began going abroad in large numbers in the 1980s.
Unhealthy dependence
But critics, including many OFWs, say the government has developed an unhealthy dependence on the remittances, turning a blind eye to their social costs, especially divided families and the reliance on them to pay for services while failing to build a sound economy that produces good jobs at home.
About 15 percent of the 42,000 residents of Mabini, about 130 kilometers south of Manila, live overseas, compared with an estimated national average of 10 percent.
One recent morning, Jocelyn Santia, 40, was packing her bags after two months of vacation here to return to her job as a housekeeper in Milan. She and her husband, who died six years ago, began working in Italy 20 years ago after they were recruited by an employment agency.
Santia’s grandparents and a brother raised her four children here, though the two eldest now attend college in Italy. Her sacrifice, she hoped, would yield good, white-collar jobs for her children.
Bitter about leaving
But with her departure—and yet another separation from her two younger children—looming before her, Santia expressed bitterness about having to leave her family.
“The economy is bad here, salaries are low,” she said. “It’s the fault of the government that so many Filipinos have to go abroad. If there were good jobs here, why would we ever think of going abroad?”
Mabini Mayor Nilo Villanueva said he had often heard this criticism from OFWs. Villanueva was elected in 2007 by campaigning in Italy and championing the interests of the overseas workers. The mayor connected Little Italy to the water grid last year.
Yet, even as Villanueva has sought OFW investments in a feed mill and other projects, the mayor said he worried about the town’s and country’s reliance on remittances. “Many people have become lazy now because they are overdependent on remittances,” he said.
Villanueva said the town not only counted on investment from its OFWs, but also had become dependent on their earnings in less direct ways.
School for OFW kids
Most OFWs here, for example, send their children to private elementary schools, which have smaller class sizes and offer richer educational and extracurricular programs.
“They are helping the municipal government because we are spending less on public schools,” Villanueva said.
At Santa Fe Integrated School, a private institution that charges an annual tuition of P16,354 ($370), about 80 percent of the 250 students are children of OFWs. About half of the students have both parents overseas and are being raised by relatives or housekeepers, said Louella D. de Leon, the principal.
Kate Michele Mendoza, 12, and her sister Christina, 8, are typical cases. With their parents working in Italy since Kate’s birth, both she and her sister live with their grandparents and two cousins, whose parents work in Oman. The parents return here once a year, staying one to two months.
“We go malling when they are here,” Kate said.
‘They are arrogant’
De Leon said that while the children of overseas workers were better off financially, they lacked discipline and scored poorer grades than the children whose parents were present.
“The kids of OFWs have everything in terms of gadgets—the latest cell phones that you can’t even find in Manila—and they have bigger allowances than even the teachers,” De Leon said. “But they have an attitude. They are arrogant.”
“I don’t understand their parents,” the principal added. “They are working as maids in Italy and they hire maids here to take care of their own children. They value their money more than their families.”
The national government has highlighted the positive effects of the OFW economy, calling the workers “heroes” and presenting awards for the model OFW family of the year.
Benefits outweigh costs
In an interview in Manila, Vivian F. Tornea, a director at the Department of Labor and Employment’s Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, said the benefits of the remittance economy far outweighed the costs.
Tornea denied that the national and local governments had become dependent on remittances, saying that OFW contributions to building public infrastructure were simply “payback” because they did not pay income taxes.
“Just as we get assistance from other funding institutions, why can’t we accept from our own nationals who are willing and capable of giving something for their own community?” she asked.
While the government has welcomed OFW remittances, it has done too little to ensure their long-term financial health, critics say.
Atikha, a private organization, provides financial literacy programs for OFWs in Mabini and elsewhere, who tend to invest in houses and vehicles that remain unused for years.
Debts incurred abroad
Ella Cristina Gloriane, a personal finance adviser at Atikha, said OFWs workers often incurred debts overseas to build their dream houses here.
“That’s one reason many of them can’t come home,” she said. “They have to keep working to repay their debts.”
In the Pulong Lupa neighborhood, about half of the houses belong to absent OFWs. No one answered the doorbell at several houses, but a caretaker, Jovel Bonapos, 16, appeared at the gate of a large pink house.
The house, Bonapos said, belonged to a couple and their four children living in Italy. They visited only once every two years, staying up to two months each time.
The house had four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and it is “completely furnished,” he said.
In a large house not too far away, Lorena Sawali-Baquillos, 37, lives with her three children while her husband works as a seaman.
Motivation
Baquillos, who leads a small organization of OFW families, said she understood the motivation behind building the Italian-style houses.
“Filipinos are stuck on status symbols,” she said. “After the sweat and tears of working in Europe for many years, they build a big house to show the fruits of their labor.”
“But it’s weird,” she added.
“How can you enjoy your house if you can only see it in photos? The houses have huge beds, even though they may use them only a few weeks a year. They’re fully furnished with plasma televisions and ovens, but there’s no one to bake a cake.” New York Times News Service/Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 20, 2010
The larger houses, many of them empty, belong to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who plan to return here one day.
Despite their absence, the OFWs have contributed money to help build roads, schools, water grids and other infrastructure usually handled by local governments. They pay for annual fiestas that were traditionally financed by municipalities, churches and local businesses.
Thanks to OFWs, Mabini became a “first-class” municipality last year in a government ranking of towns nationwide, leaping from just a “third-class” town.
In one barangay nicknamed Little Italy, where a quarter of the 1,200 residents are working in Italy, the OFWs shouldered 20 percent of the cost to construct a public hall.
“We couldn’t have finished it without the OFWs,” the barangay chair, Raymundo Magsino, 64, said in an interview inside the building.
OFW remittances, which the government says have been steadily rising sharply from $7.6 billion in 2003 to $17.3 billion in 2009, now account for more than 10 percent of the Philippine gross domestic product. The remittances are also the main factor driving the country’s recent economic growth, which would have otherwise remained stagnant.
OFWs, who typically work as maids, nurses or service workers abroad, began going abroad in large numbers in the 1980s.
Unhealthy dependence
But critics, including many OFWs, say the government has developed an unhealthy dependence on the remittances, turning a blind eye to their social costs, especially divided families and the reliance on them to pay for services while failing to build a sound economy that produces good jobs at home.
About 15 percent of the 42,000 residents of Mabini, about 130 kilometers south of Manila, live overseas, compared with an estimated national average of 10 percent.
One recent morning, Jocelyn Santia, 40, was packing her bags after two months of vacation here to return to her job as a housekeeper in Milan. She and her husband, who died six years ago, began working in Italy 20 years ago after they were recruited by an employment agency.
Santia’s grandparents and a brother raised her four children here, though the two eldest now attend college in Italy. Her sacrifice, she hoped, would yield good, white-collar jobs for her children.
Bitter about leaving
But with her departure—and yet another separation from her two younger children—looming before her, Santia expressed bitterness about having to leave her family.
“The economy is bad here, salaries are low,” she said. “It’s the fault of the government that so many Filipinos have to go abroad. If there were good jobs here, why would we ever think of going abroad?”
Mabini Mayor Nilo Villanueva said he had often heard this criticism from OFWs. Villanueva was elected in 2007 by campaigning in Italy and championing the interests of the overseas workers. The mayor connected Little Italy to the water grid last year.
Yet, even as Villanueva has sought OFW investments in a feed mill and other projects, the mayor said he worried about the town’s and country’s reliance on remittances. “Many people have become lazy now because they are overdependent on remittances,” he said.
Villanueva said the town not only counted on investment from its OFWs, but also had become dependent on their earnings in less direct ways.
School for OFW kids
Most OFWs here, for example, send their children to private elementary schools, which have smaller class sizes and offer richer educational and extracurricular programs.
“They are helping the municipal government because we are spending less on public schools,” Villanueva said.
At Santa Fe Integrated School, a private institution that charges an annual tuition of P16,354 ($370), about 80 percent of the 250 students are children of OFWs. About half of the students have both parents overseas and are being raised by relatives or housekeepers, said Louella D. de Leon, the principal.
Kate Michele Mendoza, 12, and her sister Christina, 8, are typical cases. With their parents working in Italy since Kate’s birth, both she and her sister live with their grandparents and two cousins, whose parents work in Oman. The parents return here once a year, staying one to two months.
“We go malling when they are here,” Kate said.
‘They are arrogant’
De Leon said that while the children of overseas workers were better off financially, they lacked discipline and scored poorer grades than the children whose parents were present.
“The kids of OFWs have everything in terms of gadgets—the latest cell phones that you can’t even find in Manila—and they have bigger allowances than even the teachers,” De Leon said. “But they have an attitude. They are arrogant.”
“I don’t understand their parents,” the principal added. “They are working as maids in Italy and they hire maids here to take care of their own children. They value their money more than their families.”
The national government has highlighted the positive effects of the OFW economy, calling the workers “heroes” and presenting awards for the model OFW family of the year.
Benefits outweigh costs
In an interview in Manila, Vivian F. Tornea, a director at the Department of Labor and Employment’s Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, said the benefits of the remittance economy far outweighed the costs.
Tornea denied that the national and local governments had become dependent on remittances, saying that OFW contributions to building public infrastructure were simply “payback” because they did not pay income taxes.
“Just as we get assistance from other funding institutions, why can’t we accept from our own nationals who are willing and capable of giving something for their own community?” she asked.
While the government has welcomed OFW remittances, it has done too little to ensure their long-term financial health, critics say.
Atikha, a private organization, provides financial literacy programs for OFWs in Mabini and elsewhere, who tend to invest in houses and vehicles that remain unused for years.
Debts incurred abroad
Ella Cristina Gloriane, a personal finance adviser at Atikha, said OFWs workers often incurred debts overseas to build their dream houses here.
“That’s one reason many of them can’t come home,” she said. “They have to keep working to repay their debts.”
In the Pulong Lupa neighborhood, about half of the houses belong to absent OFWs. No one answered the doorbell at several houses, but a caretaker, Jovel Bonapos, 16, appeared at the gate of a large pink house.
The house, Bonapos said, belonged to a couple and their four children living in Italy. They visited only once every two years, staying up to two months each time.
The house had four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and it is “completely furnished,” he said.
In a large house not too far away, Lorena Sawali-Baquillos, 37, lives with her three children while her husband works as a seaman.
Motivation
Baquillos, who leads a small organization of OFW families, said she understood the motivation behind building the Italian-style houses.
“Filipinos are stuck on status symbols,” she said. “After the sweat and tears of working in Europe for many years, they build a big house to show the fruits of their labor.”
“But it’s weird,” she added.
“How can you enjoy your house if you can only see it in photos? The houses have huge beds, even though they may use them only a few weeks a year. They’re fully furnished with plasma televisions and ovens, but there’s no one to bake a cake.” New York Times News Service/Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Florida couple pleads guilty to abusing Filipino workers
WASHINGTON – A Florida couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino employees against their will working in country clubs and hotels, the US Justice Department said Friday.
Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, were owners of a labor contracting service based in the Florida city of Boca Raton.
Manuel and Baldonado "conspired to obtain a cheap, compliant and readily available labor pool, by making false promises to entice the victims to incur debts," read a Department of Justice statement, quoting court documents.
"The defendants then compelled the victims' labor and services through threats to have the workers arrested and deported, knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and possible incarceration for non-payment of debts in the Philippines."
Once the workers arrived at Manuel and Baldonado's Florida residence, the couple confiscated their passports, then "housed them in overcrowded, substandard conditions without adequate food or drinking water; put them to work at area country clubs and hotels for little or no pay; required them to remain in the defendants' service, unpaid when there was insufficient work."
They ordered them not to leave the premises without permission and "threatened to have the workers arrested and deported for complaining about these terms and conditions," the statement said.
Manuel also pleaded guilty to lying in an application filed with the US Labor Department to obtain foreign labor certifications and visas under the federal H2B guest worker program.
"These defendants victimized vulnerable individuals for profit," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
Agencies involved in investigating the case include Immigration and Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and the US Department of Labor. - Agence France-Presse/Inquirer.net, September 18, 2010
Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, were owners of a labor contracting service based in the Florida city of Boca Raton.
Manuel and Baldonado "conspired to obtain a cheap, compliant and readily available labor pool, by making false promises to entice the victims to incur debts," read a Department of Justice statement, quoting court documents.
"The defendants then compelled the victims' labor and services through threats to have the workers arrested and deported, knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and possible incarceration for non-payment of debts in the Philippines."
Once the workers arrived at Manuel and Baldonado's Florida residence, the couple confiscated their passports, then "housed them in overcrowded, substandard conditions without adequate food or drinking water; put them to work at area country clubs and hotels for little or no pay; required them to remain in the defendants' service, unpaid when there was insufficient work."
They ordered them not to leave the premises without permission and "threatened to have the workers arrested and deported for complaining about these terms and conditions," the statement said.
Manuel also pleaded guilty to lying in an application filed with the US Labor Department to obtain foreign labor certifications and visas under the federal H2B guest worker program.
"These defendants victimized vulnerable individuals for profit," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
Agencies involved in investigating the case include Immigration and Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and the US Department of Labor. - Agence France-Presse/Inquirer.net, September 18, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Human trafficking claims upset Singapore
Singapore has reacted indignantly to a US government report putting it on a human-trafficking watch list and bluntly told Washington to examine its own record on immigration.
The 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report by the State Department listed Singapore, a staunch US ally, along with Thailand and Vietnam as countries that failed to prevent women from being forced into prostitution.
"We have read the latest TIP report. It is rather puzzling because the US has not satisfactorily explained how it had arrived at its conclusions," Singapore's foreign ministry said in a written reply to media queries on Tuesday.
"The Singapore government is committed to tackling the TIP issue, and our efforts in dealing with this issue have certainly not weakened since last year. We will respond in detail as appropriate in due course."
Thousands of women from poorer Asian countries such as China, the Philippines and Thailand work as call girls and bar hostesses in wealthy Singapore, a bustling port city where prostitution is legal in designated zones.
Explaining the downgrade for Singapore to the "Tier Two Watch List" where it sits alongside impoverished countries, the US report said some women were tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment but coerced into the sex trade.
The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant new steps" against trafficking, there were no "quantifiable indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or prosecuting more culprits.
In its reaction, the Singapore foreign ministry said the annual US report "is more a political ritual than an objective study".
"How, for example, can the US rank itself in Tier One when it is well known that the US has been unable to stem a flood of illegal workers, many of whom are trafficked by organised criminal gangs?" the ministry said.
"It has not been able to cope adequately with the problem and that is among the reasons why immigration is such a hot political issue in the US.
"The US should perhaps examine its own record more carefully before presuming to pronounce on other countries. Then its reports may be more credible," the Singapore foreign ministry added.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has made women's and children's rights a signature issue, called human trafficking a "terrible crime" as she presented the annual report on Monday.
"All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an end," she said.
The report estimated that 12.3 million people were the victims of trafficking in 2009-10, although it said there had been progress over the past decade.
The State Department added a number of Asian nations to its watch list - Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka stayed on the list, unchanged from a year earlier.
North Korea, Burma and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking. - Roberto Coloma, June 15, 2010
This story was found at: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/human-trafficking-claims-upset-singapore-20100615-yd72.html
The 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report by the State Department listed Singapore, a staunch US ally, along with Thailand and Vietnam as countries that failed to prevent women from being forced into prostitution.
"We have read the latest TIP report. It is rather puzzling because the US has not satisfactorily explained how it had arrived at its conclusions," Singapore's foreign ministry said in a written reply to media queries on Tuesday.
"The Singapore government is committed to tackling the TIP issue, and our efforts in dealing with this issue have certainly not weakened since last year. We will respond in detail as appropriate in due course."
Thousands of women from poorer Asian countries such as China, the Philippines and Thailand work as call girls and bar hostesses in wealthy Singapore, a bustling port city where prostitution is legal in designated zones.
Explaining the downgrade for Singapore to the "Tier Two Watch List" where it sits alongside impoverished countries, the US report said some women were tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment but coerced into the sex trade.
The report said that while Singapore launched "some significant new steps" against trafficking, there were no "quantifiable indicators" that the government was identifying more victims or prosecuting more culprits.
In its reaction, the Singapore foreign ministry said the annual US report "is more a political ritual than an objective study".
"How, for example, can the US rank itself in Tier One when it is well known that the US has been unable to stem a flood of illegal workers, many of whom are trafficked by organised criminal gangs?" the ministry said.
"It has not been able to cope adequately with the problem and that is among the reasons why immigration is such a hot political issue in the US.
"The US should perhaps examine its own record more carefully before presuming to pronounce on other countries. Then its reports may be more credible," the Singapore foreign ministry added.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has made women's and children's rights a signature issue, called human trafficking a "terrible crime" as she presented the annual report on Monday.
"All of us have a responsibility to bring this practice to an end," she said.
The report estimated that 12.3 million people were the victims of trafficking in 2009-10, although it said there had been progress over the past decade.
The State Department added a number of Asian nations to its watch list - Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka stayed on the list, unchanged from a year earlier.
North Korea, Burma and Papua New Guinea remained at the bottom level of countries that do not even meet the minimum standards on human trafficking. - Roberto Coloma, June 15, 2010
This story was found at: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/human-trafficking-claims-upset-singapore-20100615-yd72.html
Trafficking of Pinays to Singapore getting worse
SINGAPORE - Three weeks after having her appendix removed last year, Filipina bar girl Camille was forced by her pimp back to work as a prostitute in Singapore.
Penniless and deeply in debt in a foreign land, 24-year-old Camille, not her real name, had no choice.
She says she had sex with men in hotel trysts arranged by her pimp, who took most of the money, until she sought shelter at the Philippine embassy.
"My wounds barely healed and I was being forced to have sex," she told AFP, breaking into sobs during an interview before flying home earlier this year.
"The pimp had no pity. The men had no mercy. I should have listened to my parents not to come here."
Philippine embassy officials said Camille, a single mother, is among a growing number of Filipina women lured by human trafficking syndicates to Singapore, Southeast Asia's wealthiest economy.
Promised jobs as "entertainers" in pubs and restaurants, many instead find themselves virtually indentured as prostitutes, working to pay back the cost of getting here.
Women interviewed by AFP said they were locked in cramped apartments, given one meal a day and told they owed between 1,000 and 4,000 Singapore dollars (736-2,945 US) to their pimps for bringing them to the city-state.
The sex industry in Singapore -- where prostitution is legal but pimping and public solicitation are not -- is dominated by women from the Philippines, Thailand, China and Vietnam, industry sources said.
The Philippine embassy in Singapore said there were 212 cases of human trafficking involving Filipinas in 2007, up from 125 in 2006 and from 59 cases in 2005.
Of those 212, nearly 30 percent admitted to having engaged in prostitution or said they were coerced into sexual acts, it said.
Filipino consul Neal Imperial described the numbers as the "tip of the iceberg" as they reflected only women who turned to the embassy for help.
The US State Department, in its 2008 Trafficking in Persons report, put Singapore on its list of countries not doing enough to combat the problem. Cambodia and Sierra Leone were among others named.
The report urged Singapore, which has yet to ratify the 2000 UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, to "vigorously investigate and prosecute both labour and sex trafficking cases".
Responding to the US report, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said reported cases of forced prostitution fell to 28 in 2007 from 33 in 2006 and 35 in 2005.
Police investigated all 28 cases and found evidence in only one, the ministry said.
Human trafficking experts said Singapore's figures differ from the US report because the police do not consider women as trafficking victims if they arrive voluntarily.
In contrast, the United Nations counts women as victims if they are lured by false promises about working conditions, and if they are exploited.
Singapore should accept there is a problem, said Sallie Yea, an Australian consultant who has researched sex trafficking in Asia. "Singapore is still in the denial mode."
The island-state is an attractive destination, experts said, because women can enter without a visa on cheap flights.
John Gee, of the non-government group Transient Workers Count Too, said acknowledging that human trafficking exists could be embarrassing for the government, which likes to perpetuate Singapore's squeaky clean image.
But he said the government's bid to maintain that image could push it to tackle the issue.
"I'm optimistic that Singapore will actually rise to the challenge and deal with it," he said. - Agence France-Presse, 09/01/2008
Penniless and deeply in debt in a foreign land, 24-year-old Camille, not her real name, had no choice.
She says she had sex with men in hotel trysts arranged by her pimp, who took most of the money, until she sought shelter at the Philippine embassy.
"My wounds barely healed and I was being forced to have sex," she told AFP, breaking into sobs during an interview before flying home earlier this year.
"The pimp had no pity. The men had no mercy. I should have listened to my parents not to come here."
Philippine embassy officials said Camille, a single mother, is among a growing number of Filipina women lured by human trafficking syndicates to Singapore, Southeast Asia's wealthiest economy.
Promised jobs as "entertainers" in pubs and restaurants, many instead find themselves virtually indentured as prostitutes, working to pay back the cost of getting here.
Women interviewed by AFP said they were locked in cramped apartments, given one meal a day and told they owed between 1,000 and 4,000 Singapore dollars (736-2,945 US) to their pimps for bringing them to the city-state.
The sex industry in Singapore -- where prostitution is legal but pimping and public solicitation are not -- is dominated by women from the Philippines, Thailand, China and Vietnam, industry sources said.
The Philippine embassy in Singapore said there were 212 cases of human trafficking involving Filipinas in 2007, up from 125 in 2006 and from 59 cases in 2005.
Of those 212, nearly 30 percent admitted to having engaged in prostitution or said they were coerced into sexual acts, it said.
Filipino consul Neal Imperial described the numbers as the "tip of the iceberg" as they reflected only women who turned to the embassy for help.
The US State Department, in its 2008 Trafficking in Persons report, put Singapore on its list of countries not doing enough to combat the problem. Cambodia and Sierra Leone were among others named.
The report urged Singapore, which has yet to ratify the 2000 UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, to "vigorously investigate and prosecute both labour and sex trafficking cases".
Responding to the US report, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said reported cases of forced prostitution fell to 28 in 2007 from 33 in 2006 and 35 in 2005.
Police investigated all 28 cases and found evidence in only one, the ministry said.
Human trafficking experts said Singapore's figures differ from the US report because the police do not consider women as trafficking victims if they arrive voluntarily.
In contrast, the United Nations counts women as victims if they are lured by false promises about working conditions, and if they are exploited.
Singapore should accept there is a problem, said Sallie Yea, an Australian consultant who has researched sex trafficking in Asia. "Singapore is still in the denial mode."
The island-state is an attractive destination, experts said, because women can enter without a visa on cheap flights.
John Gee, of the non-government group Transient Workers Count Too, said acknowledging that human trafficking exists could be embarrassing for the government, which likes to perpetuate Singapore's squeaky clean image.
But he said the government's bid to maintain that image could push it to tackle the issue.
"I'm optimistic that Singapore will actually rise to the challenge and deal with it," he said. - Agence France-Presse, 09/01/2008
Saturday, September 11, 2010
16 OFWs held in Singapore due to unconfirmed e-tickets
Some 16 Middle East-bound Filipino workers were briefly held at an airport in Singapore last week after authorities found they were traveling with unconfirmed electronic tickets (e-tickets).
In a release posted on its website, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the workers were prevented from boarding their connecting flights to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Riyadh at Singapore’s Changi Airport due to unconfirmed e-tickets.
Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Minda Calaguian-Cruz is thus urging the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to investigate this “new deployment scheme" by no less than accredited recruitment agencies.
The Philippine Embassy said that before the workers’ connecting flights, they were required by their airlines to present at the check-in counter the credit card used to purchase the tickets.
The workers, however, were unable to do so as they were given only photocopies of the credit card by their agencies.
Based on the workers' statements, their employment papers were processed by the POEA, while their agencies gave them two separate tickets — one for their flight to Singapore, and another for their connecting flights to their various Middle East destinations, the release said.
It added that the workers were given photocopies of a credit card to be shown at the airline check-in counter, and were not aware that their connecting flights were unconfirmed.
An unconfirmed flight means the airline has not yet committed to allowing the passenger to fly as scheduled due to a full flight, and the passenger’s name is simply on the waitlist.
The Embassy said the stranded workers were provided shelter at its Filipino Workers Resource Center for three days.
They departed for their respective overseas destinations after the Embassy negotiated their airline tickets with the agencies.
"The POEA should investigate the case and punish those responsible for allowing their deployed overseas workers to leave the country with unconfirmed bookings," Calaguian-Cruz said.
"Workers should personally check with airline companies if their bookings are confirmed; otherwise, their security and safety would be compromised before they can even start to work overseas," she added.—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV, September 09, 2010
In a release posted on its website, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the workers were prevented from boarding their connecting flights to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Riyadh at Singapore’s Changi Airport due to unconfirmed e-tickets.
Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Minda Calaguian-Cruz is thus urging the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to investigate this “new deployment scheme" by no less than accredited recruitment agencies.
The Philippine Embassy said that before the workers’ connecting flights, they were required by their airlines to present at the check-in counter the credit card used to purchase the tickets.
The workers, however, were unable to do so as they were given only photocopies of the credit card by their agencies.
Based on the workers' statements, their employment papers were processed by the POEA, while their agencies gave them two separate tickets — one for their flight to Singapore, and another for their connecting flights to their various Middle East destinations, the release said.
It added that the workers were given photocopies of a credit card to be shown at the airline check-in counter, and were not aware that their connecting flights were unconfirmed.
An unconfirmed flight means the airline has not yet committed to allowing the passenger to fly as scheduled due to a full flight, and the passenger’s name is simply on the waitlist.
The Embassy said the stranded workers were provided shelter at its Filipino Workers Resource Center for three days.
They departed for their respective overseas destinations after the Embassy negotiated their airline tickets with the agencies.
"The POEA should investigate the case and punish those responsible for allowing their deployed overseas workers to leave the country with unconfirmed bookings," Calaguian-Cruz said.
"Workers should personally check with airline companies if their bookings are confirmed; otherwise, their security and safety would be compromised before they can even start to work overseas," she added.—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV, September 09, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thinking about Receiving a Makati Condo? A Few Factors to Take into Consideration
It is no secret that Makati properties are known by the Filipino population as being among the most exclusive examples of Manila real estate. The area is the monetary main city of the Philippines, has got the most popular overseas buyers and commercial areas, and is a regional favorite among the most influential and trustworthy land administrators. A Makati condo is costly – especially for the common Filipino who scarcely has sufficient to survive with on an every day base – but it can be also an indication of obtaining the wealth and prestige essential to make one’s way in the Philippine equivalent of Wall Street.
One of the main motives a Makati condo is extremely valued is owing to the metropolis’s place in Philippine popular customs. Makati is the metropolis for business giants, for movers and shakers, and for the most successful men and women in the regional overall economy. It can serve as the stomping grounds of the old rich which, right up until lately, dominated Philippine industry. The notion of life in Makati is one that interests several men and women in the country for the reason that it is representational of having some claim of being on precisely the same level as the dominating political and fiscal agencies in the land. Dwelling in Makati is, in many ways, a proof that somebody has transferred up the economic scale and is more successful than the less well off parts of the public.
You’ll find furthermore highly functional reasons for why Manila real estate is at its most pricey in Makati. The biggest land builders in the nation, such as Ayala Land, ensure it is important to make use of the city as the area where they assemble their most focused, most exclusive constructions. As a consequence of the area’s position as a massive financial section, land builders fully understand that even though they commit lots of cash on supplying the very best lodgings and features for a Makati condo, they will be profiting from it in the long-term. The city encounters a near-continual stream of buyers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and managers, and more than a few of those would desire dwelling arrangements within the area. That gives a market that land developers can dependably tap into and that their competitors can also, which signifies they will try and one-up the other when it comes to Makati condo opportunities, capabilities, and recreation.
Makati’s status in Manila real estate as a location of comfort, security, and top quality with regards to residential options in addition plays a component in rendering the ordinary Makati condo more interesting. The Philippines, in spite of being considerably more westernized culturally than most nations in Asia, still possesses a holdover from potent Chinese societal influences that causes them to be moderately engaged with keeping image and popularity. This carries over, somewhat, in the development ventures in Makati. Given that it obtained a national image as a spot where the quality of living is above most of the nation, builders have seen fit to continue the good work. Culturally, this keeps the city’s image. In a financial sense, it additionally acts as a means of trying to keep the industry focused on what is offered.
The stature and good reputation that is linked to a Manila Makati condo, or any kind of real estate in the location, is one that is certainly ingrained in the modern-day Filipino consciousness. Makati is known as the area to be for people who would like to be effective. The appeal of this kind of placement, made up or real, is difficult to reject.
Since you are familiar with the advantages of residing in Makati, it is possible to Invest in the Philippines today. You’ll find a great deal of offered choices online. Check out RentInMakati.com Philippines Real Estate.
Source: http://articleresource.org/business/thinking-about-receiving-a-makati-condo-a-few-factors-to-take-into-consideration-73109
Real Estate: Think tank urges BIR to speed up REIT rules
MANILA, Philippines - A private think tank is urging the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to expedite the crafting of its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on a new law designed to energize the Philippine capital market, spur big-ticket real estate investments and broaden the participation of retail investors and the rest of the public in such projects.
This new law—the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Act of 2009—is meant to make the country’s real estate market a lot more attractive to foreign investors and fund managers and at the same entice retail investors to take part in large-scale infrastructure projects through stock offerings, according to the private think tank Forensic Law and Policy Strategies, Inc. (Forensic Solutions).
Headed by former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, Forensic Solutions pointed out in its 7th policy paper that the REIT law also aims to protect the investing public by providing a regulatory framework and environment under which real estate investment trusts, through certain incentives, can prosper and attain the government’s goal of stimulating the domestic capital market.
“REITs are generally stock corporations that invest primarily in real estate and qualify for special tax status. These companies are publicly listed and are viewed as liquid real estate investments because investors are able to liquidate their position in a short time frame, despite the volatility in equity prices,” it said.
Republic Act 9856 or the REIT Act of 2009, lapsed into law on Dec. 17, 2009, but up to now, only two of three concerned agencies—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)–have issued their counterpart rules and regulations governing REITs.
The third agency—the BIR—has yet to come up with its own set of IRR for REITs, Agra said in the paper, which he co-wrote with Maricel Baltazar, a tax practitioner and former executive of both Pricewaterhouse Coopers Manila and SGV & Co.
Agra and Baltazar noted that the BIR has yet to release the IRR apparently because of several issues governing real estate investment trusts, such as the period of collecting deficiency taxes from delinquent REITs and the imposition of additional tax charges with the revocation of the tax incentives of REITs once they are delisted from the PSE.
Under the law, these REIT companies enjoying tax privileges will be delisted as public companies once they fail to comply with certain requirements, such as their continued status as publicly listed companies and the release of 90 percent of their distributable incomes.
To encourage investors to participate in REITs, Agra and Baltazar said the law grants them several incentives, which include reduced documentary stamp tax rates, lower withholding taxes and exemptions from the payment of the corporate income tax.
“Admittedly, granting tax incentives will erode the government’s collection efforts. However, if the government sincerely intends to develop the capital market, level the playing field and give opportunities for retail investors, the government must give a chance and encourage the development of REITs as a possible source of investment and another avenue for foreign investors to invest in real estate in the country,” they added.
In its latest policy paper, Agra and Baltazar noted that the REIT law has long been awaited by the business community, with big companies such as Ayala Land, Robinsons Land and SM Prime Holdings reportedly interested in using this as a vehicle to further expand their real estate investments.
They called on the government to seize the opportunities and benefits offered by the REIT law in developing and strengthening the country’s capital market, which are now being enjoyed by other countries that have enacted their respective versions of REITs legislation, such as Japan, South Korea Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand.
“Presently, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are reaping the benefits of REITS as an investment vehicle with a weighted average dividend yield of 8.1%, 8.9% and 3.7%, respectively. The government must issue regulations which are responsive to industry growth and which allows the Philippines to participate in this billion-dollar industry and benefit from its economic viability,” they said. - Mary Ann Ll. Reyes (The Philippine Star), September 10, 2010
This new law—the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Act of 2009—is meant to make the country’s real estate market a lot more attractive to foreign investors and fund managers and at the same entice retail investors to take part in large-scale infrastructure projects through stock offerings, according to the private think tank Forensic Law and Policy Strategies, Inc. (Forensic Solutions).
Headed by former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, Forensic Solutions pointed out in its 7th policy paper that the REIT law also aims to protect the investing public by providing a regulatory framework and environment under which real estate investment trusts, through certain incentives, can prosper and attain the government’s goal of stimulating the domestic capital market.
“REITs are generally stock corporations that invest primarily in real estate and qualify for special tax status. These companies are publicly listed and are viewed as liquid real estate investments because investors are able to liquidate their position in a short time frame, despite the volatility in equity prices,” it said.
Republic Act 9856 or the REIT Act of 2009, lapsed into law on Dec. 17, 2009, but up to now, only two of three concerned agencies—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)–have issued their counterpart rules and regulations governing REITs.
The third agency—the BIR—has yet to come up with its own set of IRR for REITs, Agra said in the paper, which he co-wrote with Maricel Baltazar, a tax practitioner and former executive of both Pricewaterhouse Coopers Manila and SGV & Co.
Agra and Baltazar noted that the BIR has yet to release the IRR apparently because of several issues governing real estate investment trusts, such as the period of collecting deficiency taxes from delinquent REITs and the imposition of additional tax charges with the revocation of the tax incentives of REITs once they are delisted from the PSE.
Under the law, these REIT companies enjoying tax privileges will be delisted as public companies once they fail to comply with certain requirements, such as their continued status as publicly listed companies and the release of 90 percent of their distributable incomes.
To encourage investors to participate in REITs, Agra and Baltazar said the law grants them several incentives, which include reduced documentary stamp tax rates, lower withholding taxes and exemptions from the payment of the corporate income tax.
“Admittedly, granting tax incentives will erode the government’s collection efforts. However, if the government sincerely intends to develop the capital market, level the playing field and give opportunities for retail investors, the government must give a chance and encourage the development of REITs as a possible source of investment and another avenue for foreign investors to invest in real estate in the country,” they added.
In its latest policy paper, Agra and Baltazar noted that the REIT law has long been awaited by the business community, with big companies such as Ayala Land, Robinsons Land and SM Prime Holdings reportedly interested in using this as a vehicle to further expand their real estate investments.
They called on the government to seize the opportunities and benefits offered by the REIT law in developing and strengthening the country’s capital market, which are now being enjoyed by other countries that have enacted their respective versions of REITs legislation, such as Japan, South Korea Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand.
“Presently, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are reaping the benefits of REITS as an investment vehicle with a weighted average dividend yield of 8.1%, 8.9% and 3.7%, respectively. The government must issue regulations which are responsive to industry growth and which allows the Philippines to participate in this billion-dollar industry and benefit from its economic viability,” they said. - Mary Ann Ll. Reyes (The Philippine Star), September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Palace cuts by half OFW legal help fund in 2011 budget
MANILA, Philippines—Malacanang has cut by almost half the legal assistance fund for overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) in the proposed 2011 national budget from P50 million this year to P27 million next year, it was disclosed Wednesday at the budget hearing in Congress.
The amount is only a quarter of what is prescribed in the Migrant Workers Act.
Nueva Vizcaya Representative Carlos Padilla noted that the law provides that the fund should not be less than P100 million. He proposed that the DFA budget be raised.
“These are instances when we can show that congressional insertions are vital and necessary especially for our OFWs. They send us $17 billion in remittances, why should we deprive them of assistance?” Padilla said.
Minority leader and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said the slash in the legal assistance fund violates the provisions of the law.
“Are you going to accept this kind of aberration or violation of the law?” he asked DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo.
Romulo replied, “We will do our best to make representations to comply with the law. We will insist that the law is complied with.”
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos said the fund pays for legal fees of lawyers hired to defend OFWs in jail, especially those facing serious offenses such as murder or drug trafficking.
In capital offenses, the aim is to commute the death sentence to imprisonment for humanitarian reasons, he added.
For 2011, Malacanang has proposed an P11-billion budget for the DFA, almost P2 billion short of the current DFA budget of P12.7 billion. The proposed 2011 DFA budget represents 0.67 percent of the P1.654-trillion proposed national budget.
Lawmakers, including Lagman, Padilla, and Zambales Representative Ma. Milagros Magsaysay, said they commiserate with the DFA’s measly budget for next year, but wondered why Romulo is not whining.
In his opening statement, Romulo said he fully supports President Benigno Aquino’s austerity program to reduce the budget deficit, “that’s why we are not going to ask for any increase in our budget.”
“In the spirit of teamwork and (because of the) gaping deficit…we abide by the decision of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to cut our budget by almost 40 percent,” he said.
Romulo said they initially proposed P19 billion, which was reduced to P10.98 billion. He said he supports the Aquino administration’s huge funding for education, social service, and health.
Magsaysay, however, said it would be impossible for the DFA to fulfill its role in assisting distressed OFWs and becoming the country’s showcase agency to the world.
“Kung wala sa lugar ang austerity measure, useless lang (Misplaced austerity measures are useless),” she added. - Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Reporter, INQUIRER.net, September 08, 2010
The amount is only a quarter of what is prescribed in the Migrant Workers Act.
Nueva Vizcaya Representative Carlos Padilla noted that the law provides that the fund should not be less than P100 million. He proposed that the DFA budget be raised.
“These are instances when we can show that congressional insertions are vital and necessary especially for our OFWs. They send us $17 billion in remittances, why should we deprive them of assistance?” Padilla said.
Minority leader and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said the slash in the legal assistance fund violates the provisions of the law.
“Are you going to accept this kind of aberration or violation of the law?” he asked DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo.
Romulo replied, “We will do our best to make representations to comply with the law. We will insist that the law is complied with.”
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos said the fund pays for legal fees of lawyers hired to defend OFWs in jail, especially those facing serious offenses such as murder or drug trafficking.
In capital offenses, the aim is to commute the death sentence to imprisonment for humanitarian reasons, he added.
For 2011, Malacanang has proposed an P11-billion budget for the DFA, almost P2 billion short of the current DFA budget of P12.7 billion. The proposed 2011 DFA budget represents 0.67 percent of the P1.654-trillion proposed national budget.
Lawmakers, including Lagman, Padilla, and Zambales Representative Ma. Milagros Magsaysay, said they commiserate with the DFA’s measly budget for next year, but wondered why Romulo is not whining.
In his opening statement, Romulo said he fully supports President Benigno Aquino’s austerity program to reduce the budget deficit, “that’s why we are not going to ask for any increase in our budget.”
“In the spirit of teamwork and (because of the) gaping deficit…we abide by the decision of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to cut our budget by almost 40 percent,” he said.
Romulo said they initially proposed P19 billion, which was reduced to P10.98 billion. He said he supports the Aquino administration’s huge funding for education, social service, and health.
Magsaysay, however, said it would be impossible for the DFA to fulfill its role in assisting distressed OFWs and becoming the country’s showcase agency to the world.
“Kung wala sa lugar ang austerity measure, useless lang (Misplaced austerity measures are useless),” she added. - Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Reporter, INQUIRER.net, September 08, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Singapore defends race policies after UN envoy urges reform
SINGAPORE—Singapore has defended its race policies after a UN envoy called for reforms including lifting restrictions on the public discussion of sensitive issues like ethnicity, language and religion.
The foreign ministry said in a statement issued Wednesday that Singapore could not risk allowing such open discussions, stressing that the government, not the United Nations, would bear the consequences of ethnic strife.
Githu Muigai, the UN special rapporteur on racism, had proposed the reforms on Wednesday, at the end of a week-long visit to the city-state.
Although Singapore had taken steps to foster racial harmony and discourage intolerance, its efforts "may have created blind spots" he said.
Muigai, who will issue a report in June 2011 on Singapore, cited laws prohibiting the promotion of hostility between members of different ethnic groups, which he said limited public debate on race, language and religion.
While the laws were understandable, it was "necessary in a free society" that such restrictions "are not implemented at the detriment of fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly."
Muigai said Singaporeans should be allowed "to share their views on matters of ethnicity, to identify potential issues of discomfort and above all, work together to find solutions."
The foreign ministry said it "emphatically" disagreed with Muigai.
Race, religion and language can be discussed in Singapore but the limits were set to strike a balance between free expression and the preservation of racial and religious harmony, the ministry said.
"This balance is only for the Singapore government to determine because only the Singapore government bears the responsibility should things go wrong."
Singapore, a mainly ethnic Chinese nation of five million people with large Malay and Indian minorities, was wracked by race riots in the 1960s.
Race and religion are considered highly sensitive topics to this day despite widespread prosperity, and housing policies are designed to prevent ethnic enclaves from forming.
Muigai also urged Singapore to ratify several international treaties that "enshrine the fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination."
The foreign ministry said it will accede to these conventions "if there is substantive value in doing so and we are prepared to implement all their provisions." - Agence France-Presse/inquirer.net, Posted date: April 29, 2010
The foreign ministry said in a statement issued Wednesday that Singapore could not risk allowing such open discussions, stressing that the government, not the United Nations, would bear the consequences of ethnic strife.
Githu Muigai, the UN special rapporteur on racism, had proposed the reforms on Wednesday, at the end of a week-long visit to the city-state.
Although Singapore had taken steps to foster racial harmony and discourage intolerance, its efforts "may have created blind spots" he said.
Muigai, who will issue a report in June 2011 on Singapore, cited laws prohibiting the promotion of hostility between members of different ethnic groups, which he said limited public debate on race, language and religion.
While the laws were understandable, it was "necessary in a free society" that such restrictions "are not implemented at the detriment of fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly."
Muigai said Singaporeans should be allowed "to share their views on matters of ethnicity, to identify potential issues of discomfort and above all, work together to find solutions."
The foreign ministry said it "emphatically" disagreed with Muigai.
Race, religion and language can be discussed in Singapore but the limits were set to strike a balance between free expression and the preservation of racial and religious harmony, the ministry said.
"This balance is only for the Singapore government to determine because only the Singapore government bears the responsibility should things go wrong."
Singapore, a mainly ethnic Chinese nation of five million people with large Malay and Indian minorities, was wracked by race riots in the 1960s.
Race and religion are considered highly sensitive topics to this day despite widespread prosperity, and housing policies are designed to prevent ethnic enclaves from forming.
Muigai also urged Singapore to ratify several international treaties that "enshrine the fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination."
The foreign ministry said it will accede to these conventions "if there is substantive value in doing so and we are prepared to implement all their provisions." - Agence France-Presse/inquirer.net, Posted date: April 29, 2010
House probe sought vs Filipino trafficking in Singapore
MANILA, Philippines -- A congressional inquiry into the worsening cases of Filipino trafficking in Singapore has been sought by a lawmaker at the House of Representatives.
ARC Partylist Representative Narciso Santiago III said Congress should look into reports that Filipino trafficking in Singapore has reached an all-time high last year because of budget air fares, which aggravated the situation.
From 125 cases of human trafficking in 2006, the number went up by 70 percent or 212 cases in 2007, Santiago said, citing an alleged report by Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Belen Fule Anota.
He said the Philippine embassy in Singapore blamed this to the network of illegal recruiters and "quite possibly, syndicates across borders, which manage to persuade their recruits through various modes of deception and intimidation."
"Filipino victims are pushed to try their luck in Singapore not only because of poverty but also because of the promise of a lucrative job overseas," he said.
"The report states that the existence of a large number of
bars/pubs in Singapore's red light districts fuels the demand for Filipino women," he pointed out.
Based on records, Santiago said, the modus operandi essentially has illegal recruiters promising young women non-existent jobs as waitresses or guest relations officers in restaurants and hotels in Singapore.
"They are each charged a minimum of $100 as recruitment fee in the Philippines and given roundtrip tickets where the return ticket is oftentimes fake, a fake invitation letter, and "show money" for presentation to Philippine immigration officials who scrutinize their financial capacity as tourists," he said.
"But instead of having legitimate jobs, Filipino women reportedly end up working as prostitutes. They are forced to provide sexual services to customers and earn commissions from alcoholic drinks to enable them to pay the $1,000 to $4,000 they allegedly owe their handlers," he further said.
But Santiago said the rise in Filipino human trafficking was also due to budget airfares, which has significantly lowered the cost of travel from the Philippines to Singapore.
These budget airfares, he said, have made it "easier and cheaper for traffickers to do their deed." - Maila Ager, INQUIRER.net, Posted date: August 25, 2008
ARC Partylist Representative Narciso Santiago III said Congress should look into reports that Filipino trafficking in Singapore has reached an all-time high last year because of budget air fares, which aggravated the situation.
From 125 cases of human trafficking in 2006, the number went up by 70 percent or 212 cases in 2007, Santiago said, citing an alleged report by Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Belen Fule Anota.
He said the Philippine embassy in Singapore blamed this to the network of illegal recruiters and "quite possibly, syndicates across borders, which manage to persuade their recruits through various modes of deception and intimidation."
"Filipino victims are pushed to try their luck in Singapore not only because of poverty but also because of the promise of a lucrative job overseas," he said.
"The report states that the existence of a large number of
bars/pubs in Singapore's red light districts fuels the demand for Filipino women," he pointed out.
Based on records, Santiago said, the modus operandi essentially has illegal recruiters promising young women non-existent jobs as waitresses or guest relations officers in restaurants and hotels in Singapore.
"They are each charged a minimum of $100 as recruitment fee in the Philippines and given roundtrip tickets where the return ticket is oftentimes fake, a fake invitation letter, and "show money" for presentation to Philippine immigration officials who scrutinize their financial capacity as tourists," he said.
"But instead of having legitimate jobs, Filipino women reportedly end up working as prostitutes. They are forced to provide sexual services to customers and earn commissions from alcoholic drinks to enable them to pay the $1,000 to $4,000 they allegedly owe their handlers," he further said.
But Santiago said the rise in Filipino human trafficking was also due to budget airfares, which has significantly lowered the cost of travel from the Philippines to Singapore.
These budget airfares, he said, have made it "easier and cheaper for traffickers to do their deed." - Maila Ager, INQUIRER.net, Posted date: August 25, 2008
When casinos came to Singapore
ON A visit to Singapore in April this year, I learned that this prosperous city-state, known for its ethic of hard work and clean living, had finally opened its doors to casinos. “They’re really meant for visitors than for the locals,” the taxi driver told me, sounding almost defensive. Locals and permanent residents, he said, have to pay a levy of S$100 per day (or S$2,000 a year) to enter the gaming rooms. Tourists only have to show their passports.
It had taken more than 20 years for the Singaporean leadership to reconsider its longstanding aversion to casinos. Singapore isn’t exactly known for liberal and free-wheeling debate. But on this question, people were encouraged to speak up. And many did, sensing that the top leadership itself was of two minds about the wisdom of this policy shift. After carefully weighing the expected economic benefits against the social costs, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong faced Parliament on April 18, 2005 to recommend legislation permitting “integrated resorts” with a gaming facility to operate in Singapore.
We have much to learn from the way Singapore tackled the issue of casinos. First of all, the issue was never just about casinos, but about what the country needed to do to become competitive in a fast-changing global environment. The government did not need the casinos to raise money. That much was clear from the start. What the government needed to do was to inject a new vitality into the economy—specifically tourism, and, with it, all the associated businesses on which Singapore heavily relies—airlines, hotels and restaurants, shopping malls, entertainment centers, banks, transportation, etc.
Casinos as such were not essential to this strategy. The government did not favor stand-alone gaming halls that offered nothing but gambling. What drew Singapore’s interest was the concept of the “integrated resort,” in which the casino formed but a small, albeit central, component. The IR is a complex that could include a theme park, a cluster of hotels and restaurants, convention amenities, recreational facilities, shopping malls, museums, theaters and movie houses and so on.
Not having had previous experience in this area, the government requested interested parties to submit a concept of what they could build in two designated places: the Marina Bayfront and Sentosa. Nineteen different concepts were submitted, and from these, the government chose the most attractive and invited their proponents to submit firm proposals. Again, from the beginning, the government had no plan to operate these facilities. Neither did it want the casino component to define the character of these projects. It acknowledged the apprehensions and objections of religious and civic groups, instead of dismissing these out of hand. When it was time to decide, the prime minister took full responsibility, explaining in the clearest language possible what made him change his own initial position on the matter.
“(T)he Government has to balance the economic pluses against the social fallout and the intangible impact on values, and make an overall judgment whether to proceed. For the Government, the key consideration is what serves our national interest in the long term.”
First, he explained what Singapore stood to gain from these integrated resorts-cum-casinos. Essentially, they would be a magnet for expanded economic activity. They would create jobs and enhance the image of the city as an exciting tourist destination and cosmopolitan hub. The actual share of government revenue from these operations seemed peripheral; it was not even mentioned by Lee in his speech. The rest of his statement to Parliament engaged all the objections and reservations about hosting casinos, as if he was trying to allay his own apprehensions.
“(T)here is no doubt that the IRs will be a major plus for Singapore. However, our considerations cannot just be economic. We must also address the non-economic issues—tangible minuses like an increase in problem gambling and broken families, and intangible losses like the impact on Singapore’s brand name and social values.” He answered all these objections point-by-point and in great detail, making no attempt to reduce the immense complexity of the decision he had made by rhetorical means.
He said that his Cabinet came close to banning all Singaporeans from gambling in the casinos, but eventually opted to allow entry to locals who were willing to pay a high entrance fee. If excluded, they might just go somewhere else to gamble, he noted. If they can afford to gamble, then they can afford to pay the levy. But the casinos will not be allowed to extend credit to locals. This is to discourage impulsive and compulsive gambling. More important, a system of exclusions will bar those with financial problems, and those on financial assistance. Close kin may also ask the authorities to ban close family members who have a gambling problem. The basic principle guiding these policies is that gambling is an expense, and not a way to make a living.
Unlike the Philippine government, the Singaporean government, which runs a broad range of state corporations, has no interest in operating casinos as revenue-generating enterprises. Yet it accepts their growing importance as magnets of global tourism and business. On this basis, it has carved a middle ground that assigns a limited place to casinos in its city, even as it continues to espouse the values of thrift and hard work among its people.
By Randy David
Columnist
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: August 11, 2010
public.lives@gmail.com
It had taken more than 20 years for the Singaporean leadership to reconsider its longstanding aversion to casinos. Singapore isn’t exactly known for liberal and free-wheeling debate. But on this question, people were encouraged to speak up. And many did, sensing that the top leadership itself was of two minds about the wisdom of this policy shift. After carefully weighing the expected economic benefits against the social costs, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong faced Parliament on April 18, 2005 to recommend legislation permitting “integrated resorts” with a gaming facility to operate in Singapore.
We have much to learn from the way Singapore tackled the issue of casinos. First of all, the issue was never just about casinos, but about what the country needed to do to become competitive in a fast-changing global environment. The government did not need the casinos to raise money. That much was clear from the start. What the government needed to do was to inject a new vitality into the economy—specifically tourism, and, with it, all the associated businesses on which Singapore heavily relies—airlines, hotels and restaurants, shopping malls, entertainment centers, banks, transportation, etc.
Casinos as such were not essential to this strategy. The government did not favor stand-alone gaming halls that offered nothing but gambling. What drew Singapore’s interest was the concept of the “integrated resort,” in which the casino formed but a small, albeit central, component. The IR is a complex that could include a theme park, a cluster of hotels and restaurants, convention amenities, recreational facilities, shopping malls, museums, theaters and movie houses and so on.
Not having had previous experience in this area, the government requested interested parties to submit a concept of what they could build in two designated places: the Marina Bayfront and Sentosa. Nineteen different concepts were submitted, and from these, the government chose the most attractive and invited their proponents to submit firm proposals. Again, from the beginning, the government had no plan to operate these facilities. Neither did it want the casino component to define the character of these projects. It acknowledged the apprehensions and objections of religious and civic groups, instead of dismissing these out of hand. When it was time to decide, the prime minister took full responsibility, explaining in the clearest language possible what made him change his own initial position on the matter.
“(T)he Government has to balance the economic pluses against the social fallout and the intangible impact on values, and make an overall judgment whether to proceed. For the Government, the key consideration is what serves our national interest in the long term.”
First, he explained what Singapore stood to gain from these integrated resorts-cum-casinos. Essentially, they would be a magnet for expanded economic activity. They would create jobs and enhance the image of the city as an exciting tourist destination and cosmopolitan hub. The actual share of government revenue from these operations seemed peripheral; it was not even mentioned by Lee in his speech. The rest of his statement to Parliament engaged all the objections and reservations about hosting casinos, as if he was trying to allay his own apprehensions.
“(T)here is no doubt that the IRs will be a major plus for Singapore. However, our considerations cannot just be economic. We must also address the non-economic issues—tangible minuses like an increase in problem gambling and broken families, and intangible losses like the impact on Singapore’s brand name and social values.” He answered all these objections point-by-point and in great detail, making no attempt to reduce the immense complexity of the decision he had made by rhetorical means.
He said that his Cabinet came close to banning all Singaporeans from gambling in the casinos, but eventually opted to allow entry to locals who were willing to pay a high entrance fee. If excluded, they might just go somewhere else to gamble, he noted. If they can afford to gamble, then they can afford to pay the levy. But the casinos will not be allowed to extend credit to locals. This is to discourage impulsive and compulsive gambling. More important, a system of exclusions will bar those with financial problems, and those on financial assistance. Close kin may also ask the authorities to ban close family members who have a gambling problem. The basic principle guiding these policies is that gambling is an expense, and not a way to make a living.
Unlike the Philippine government, the Singaporean government, which runs a broad range of state corporations, has no interest in operating casinos as revenue-generating enterprises. Yet it accepts their growing importance as magnets of global tourism and business. On this basis, it has carved a middle ground that assigns a limited place to casinos in its city, even as it continues to espouse the values of thrift and hard work among its people.
By Randy David
Columnist
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: August 11, 2010
public.lives@gmail.com
A tale of 2 Filipinas in Singapore
How dream of better future turns into nightmare
MANILA, Philippines -- Lalaine, 19, was a saleslady for a popular department store when she was lured by a “friend of a friend” to work “for better pay” as a waitress in Singapore only to find that her workplace was a nightclub where she was forced to do a strip-tease and encouraged to have customers fondle her.
Kristine, a recent widow at 23 with two children (her husband died December 2006), was also told of the tremendous earning opportunities (“malaki raw ang kita”) in Singapore by an acquaintance -- a neighbor who was also their barangay (village) chairman. She agreed to a “hostessing” job there, but ended up being a call girl, having sex with different men in different hotels as arranged by her employer.
Lalaine and Kristine are just two of a growing number of young Filipino women being trafficked to Singapore for sexual exploitation, drawn in by the adventure of work abroad on the false promise of a high-paying decent job.
In its Human Trafficking Report of 2007, released this June, the United States’ Department of State noted this increase of Asian women (from People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam) being deceived or coerced into sexual servitude in the city-state so much so that it downgraded Singapore from Tier 1 in 2006 to Tier 2 in 2007.
(The State Department has four categories for levels of compliance with the Trafficking in Persons Act, which provides the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking: Tier 1 is the category of countries that “fully comply” with the law. Tier 2 is for countries that “do not fully comply with these standards but making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.” Tier 2 Watch List is for countries “requiring special scrutiny because of a high or significantly increasing number of victims; failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons; or an assessment as Tier 2 based on commitments to take action over the next year.” Tier 3 is for countries that “neither satisfy the minimum standards nor demonstrate a significant effort to come into compliance; countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.”)
This US State Department report is recognized worldwide. A couple of years ago, Japan reacted to a negative rating by applying more stringent immigration rules against Filipino entertainers.
But while the fate of Filipino entertainers to Japan is relatively well known, that of Filipino “tourists” to Singapore is hidden from the public eye, particularly Philippine authorities who could warn Filipino women of this successful scam.
Other Filipinos living or working in Singapore have noted the increase of Filipino women working as prostitutes in the city-state’s red-light district. “There are all kinds. There are club-based hostesses and there are free-lancers,” says a Filipino expatriate, who himself has gone to these clubs.
To confirm this, INQUIRER.net waited for nightfall on Orchard Road in Singapore. As the sun set, street walkers looking like customers would start arriving, talking in Tagalog or Bisaya or in colegiala English. Some looked like teenagers, some older. Some sit outside department stores, waiting to be approached by customers. Others would be accompanied by foreign-looking men. They would invariably leave with customers. Some would be fetched by a cab after a brief cell-phone call.
But it was back here in the Philippines that INQUIRER.net was able to talk to actual victims of human trafficking, back here where they felt they were safe and open to talk.
Lalaine and Kristine’s troubles resonate with each other, diverging and converging at various points.
On October 21, after paying only P1,500 for the airport terminal fee, Lalaine flew with two other young women to the city-state only to find out that the no-recruitment fee spiel was a trap, that she would work at a night club to “entertain” customers in progressively degenerate ways that would eventually end up in prostitution.
Shortly after arriving in Singapore, they were taken to an apartment on Killiney Road. They were padlocked inside the apartment, fetched before nightfall, and taken back before dawn. They were given 50 Singaporean dollars monthly allowance in advance to cover their expenses. As this is not enough even for food, many Filipinas in this job end up “in debt” with their employers.
The debt racks up when the women’s board and other expenses are counted. Luckily for Lalaine, she had P4,000 with her which allowed her to eat more than the once a day that the other club workers were forced to suffer.
At the night club in the Tanjong Pagar area in Singapore, Lalaine saw fellow Filipinas doing everything to earn their monthly quota of 300 points. (Points may be earned through the drinks that they consume; the minimum price for a drink of 20 Singaporean dollars earns two points.)
“Kaya yung iba talaga kung ano-ano ginagawa para lang maabot yung quota nila, nagpapahawak sa maseselan na parte ng katawan, nagpapadede [That’s why some do everything to meet their quota, they allow themselves to be touched in their private parts, including their breasts],” Lalaine tells INQUIRER.net.
Although the molestation does not earn the women any points, she explains that the club encourages it to get customers to return to the club again and again. “Pakonsuelo raw po [As a come-on],” she says.
“Andaming Pinay dun. Karamihan ng mga babae sa mga club, Pinay. Nung nandun ako, nabilang ko mga 33 kami [There are so many Filipinas there. Most of the women in the clubs are Filipinas. When I was there, I counted 33 of us in the club],” she adds.
During the first few days, she escaped the eagle eyes of the bar manager by sitting at the end of a line of girls at the club during their working hours. But not for long. On her third day, the club manager forced her to do a bar-top strip. This was supposed to raise her earning capacity for the club.
In her conversations with fellow Filipinas, she found out that many of them were not paid anything, allegedly because they owed the club the recruitment fee and the plane fare that got them in Singapore -- notwithstanding that they were lied to about the kind of job that waited for them there and that they were detained when off-duty.
By the seventh day, Lalaine escaped. With her two other companions who couldn’t stomach what they were being forced to do, Lalaine escaped their minder -- a fellow Filipina who accompanies them everywhere when they’re not in the club. They were at an Internet café when she told her minder that she was hungry and was just going out to eat. Her two other companions already got their things from their apartment and escaped while their minder was busy chatting in the Internet.
From the Internet café, they asked to be taken to the Philippine embassy, which took them in and helped them get tickets to return to Manila. After spending 10 hellish days in Singapore, Lalaine and her two companions are back in the country, relatively unscathed.
But Kristine was not as lucky. She actually had to “service” men for a month before finding the opportunity to escape.
Convinced that the Singapore “hostessing” job would be her ticket to feeding and educating her two young boys, she scrounged around and borrowed the P12,000 for the recruitment fee and airfare.
Within the hour of her arrival at around noon, she was given a new SIM card for her cell-phone and booked into a hotel. While taking a shower, mentally preparing herself for her night job, she received an insistent phone call from a man, demanding that she go down to the lobby.
Again by phone, she was ordered to take a cab -- one was already waiting for her outside the hotel -- to get to another hotel. At the second hotel, she met her first customer. Forced into such a situation in a strange land, she did as was expected of her and had sex with a stranger.
Kristine got her instructions from the phone. “Hindi ko talaga nakita itong mamang ito. Parang sinusundan lang talaga ako at alam ang lahat ng kilos ko. Pati pagpunta ko sa 7-11 alam [I never saw this man. It’s as if he was just following me and seeing all my actions. Even my short trip to the 7-11 was monitored],” Kristine tells INQUIRER.net.
This became her routine for the next couple of weeks, never meeting any of her fellow sex workers except at hotel lobbies, while waiting for the instructions of their invisible minder, who would leave them their share of the fee with the hotel receptionist. One of her fellow victims told her that she has been at the job for three months, accumulating not the money that she was supposed to earn for her family back home but debts.
Although not physically shackled, Kristine felt that she was not free. She was determined to leave the job she did not sign up for. “I did not go to Singapore to be a prostitute. I wanted to earn money for my kids. I called up my mother and told her about my situation. She asked what she could do. I told her I would take care of it,” she says.
Afraid, confused, and alone, Kristine was nonetheless able to escape with the help of a Singaporean taxi driver who heard her crying at the back of the cab. With his help -- he took her luggage from the hotel so that whoever was monitoring her wouldn’t suspect that she was leaving for good, she left not for the next customer but for the Philippine embassy.
When she returned home, Kristine immediately filed a case of illegal recruitment against her recruiter-neighbor.
For many Filipinos, Singapore is another land of opportunity. The growing number of Filipino professionals working in the city-state attests to this reality. But another reality exists: Filipino women are being deceived into sex jobs there.
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: November 06, 2007
MANILA, Philippines -- Lalaine, 19, was a saleslady for a popular department store when she was lured by a “friend of a friend” to work “for better pay” as a waitress in Singapore only to find that her workplace was a nightclub where she was forced to do a strip-tease and encouraged to have customers fondle her.
Kristine, a recent widow at 23 with two children (her husband died December 2006), was also told of the tremendous earning opportunities (“malaki raw ang kita”) in Singapore by an acquaintance -- a neighbor who was also their barangay (village) chairman. She agreed to a “hostessing” job there, but ended up being a call girl, having sex with different men in different hotels as arranged by her employer.
Lalaine and Kristine are just two of a growing number of young Filipino women being trafficked to Singapore for sexual exploitation, drawn in by the adventure of work abroad on the false promise of a high-paying decent job.
In its Human Trafficking Report of 2007, released this June, the United States’ Department of State noted this increase of Asian women (from People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam) being deceived or coerced into sexual servitude in the city-state so much so that it downgraded Singapore from Tier 1 in 2006 to Tier 2 in 2007.
(The State Department has four categories for levels of compliance with the Trafficking in Persons Act, which provides the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking: Tier 1 is the category of countries that “fully comply” with the law. Tier 2 is for countries that “do not fully comply with these standards but making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.” Tier 2 Watch List is for countries “requiring special scrutiny because of a high or significantly increasing number of victims; failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons; or an assessment as Tier 2 based on commitments to take action over the next year.” Tier 3 is for countries that “neither satisfy the minimum standards nor demonstrate a significant effort to come into compliance; countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.”)
This US State Department report is recognized worldwide. A couple of years ago, Japan reacted to a negative rating by applying more stringent immigration rules against Filipino entertainers.
But while the fate of Filipino entertainers to Japan is relatively well known, that of Filipino “tourists” to Singapore is hidden from the public eye, particularly Philippine authorities who could warn Filipino women of this successful scam.
Other Filipinos living or working in Singapore have noted the increase of Filipino women working as prostitutes in the city-state’s red-light district. “There are all kinds. There are club-based hostesses and there are free-lancers,” says a Filipino expatriate, who himself has gone to these clubs.
To confirm this, INQUIRER.net waited for nightfall on Orchard Road in Singapore. As the sun set, street walkers looking like customers would start arriving, talking in Tagalog or Bisaya or in colegiala English. Some looked like teenagers, some older. Some sit outside department stores, waiting to be approached by customers. Others would be accompanied by foreign-looking men. They would invariably leave with customers. Some would be fetched by a cab after a brief cell-phone call.
But it was back here in the Philippines that INQUIRER.net was able to talk to actual victims of human trafficking, back here where they felt they were safe and open to talk.
Lalaine and Kristine’s troubles resonate with each other, diverging and converging at various points.
On October 21, after paying only P1,500 for the airport terminal fee, Lalaine flew with two other young women to the city-state only to find out that the no-recruitment fee spiel was a trap, that she would work at a night club to “entertain” customers in progressively degenerate ways that would eventually end up in prostitution.
Shortly after arriving in Singapore, they were taken to an apartment on Killiney Road. They were padlocked inside the apartment, fetched before nightfall, and taken back before dawn. They were given 50 Singaporean dollars monthly allowance in advance to cover their expenses. As this is not enough even for food, many Filipinas in this job end up “in debt” with their employers.
The debt racks up when the women’s board and other expenses are counted. Luckily for Lalaine, she had P4,000 with her which allowed her to eat more than the once a day that the other club workers were forced to suffer.
At the night club in the Tanjong Pagar area in Singapore, Lalaine saw fellow Filipinas doing everything to earn their monthly quota of 300 points. (Points may be earned through the drinks that they consume; the minimum price for a drink of 20 Singaporean dollars earns two points.)
“Kaya yung iba talaga kung ano-ano ginagawa para lang maabot yung quota nila, nagpapahawak sa maseselan na parte ng katawan, nagpapadede [That’s why some do everything to meet their quota, they allow themselves to be touched in their private parts, including their breasts],” Lalaine tells INQUIRER.net.
Although the molestation does not earn the women any points, she explains that the club encourages it to get customers to return to the club again and again. “Pakonsuelo raw po [As a come-on],” she says.
“Andaming Pinay dun. Karamihan ng mga babae sa mga club, Pinay. Nung nandun ako, nabilang ko mga 33 kami [There are so many Filipinas there. Most of the women in the clubs are Filipinas. When I was there, I counted 33 of us in the club],” she adds.
During the first few days, she escaped the eagle eyes of the bar manager by sitting at the end of a line of girls at the club during their working hours. But not for long. On her third day, the club manager forced her to do a bar-top strip. This was supposed to raise her earning capacity for the club.
In her conversations with fellow Filipinas, she found out that many of them were not paid anything, allegedly because they owed the club the recruitment fee and the plane fare that got them in Singapore -- notwithstanding that they were lied to about the kind of job that waited for them there and that they were detained when off-duty.
By the seventh day, Lalaine escaped. With her two other companions who couldn’t stomach what they were being forced to do, Lalaine escaped their minder -- a fellow Filipina who accompanies them everywhere when they’re not in the club. They were at an Internet café when she told her minder that she was hungry and was just going out to eat. Her two other companions already got their things from their apartment and escaped while their minder was busy chatting in the Internet.
From the Internet café, they asked to be taken to the Philippine embassy, which took them in and helped them get tickets to return to Manila. After spending 10 hellish days in Singapore, Lalaine and her two companions are back in the country, relatively unscathed.
But Kristine was not as lucky. She actually had to “service” men for a month before finding the opportunity to escape.
Convinced that the Singapore “hostessing” job would be her ticket to feeding and educating her two young boys, she scrounged around and borrowed the P12,000 for the recruitment fee and airfare.
Within the hour of her arrival at around noon, she was given a new SIM card for her cell-phone and booked into a hotel. While taking a shower, mentally preparing herself for her night job, she received an insistent phone call from a man, demanding that she go down to the lobby.
Again by phone, she was ordered to take a cab -- one was already waiting for her outside the hotel -- to get to another hotel. At the second hotel, she met her first customer. Forced into such a situation in a strange land, she did as was expected of her and had sex with a stranger.
Kristine got her instructions from the phone. “Hindi ko talaga nakita itong mamang ito. Parang sinusundan lang talaga ako at alam ang lahat ng kilos ko. Pati pagpunta ko sa 7-11 alam [I never saw this man. It’s as if he was just following me and seeing all my actions. Even my short trip to the 7-11 was monitored],” Kristine tells INQUIRER.net.
This became her routine for the next couple of weeks, never meeting any of her fellow sex workers except at hotel lobbies, while waiting for the instructions of their invisible minder, who would leave them their share of the fee with the hotel receptionist. One of her fellow victims told her that she has been at the job for three months, accumulating not the money that she was supposed to earn for her family back home but debts.
Although not physically shackled, Kristine felt that she was not free. She was determined to leave the job she did not sign up for. “I did not go to Singapore to be a prostitute. I wanted to earn money for my kids. I called up my mother and told her about my situation. She asked what she could do. I told her I would take care of it,” she says.
Afraid, confused, and alone, Kristine was nonetheless able to escape with the help of a Singaporean taxi driver who heard her crying at the back of the cab. With his help -- he took her luggage from the hotel so that whoever was monitoring her wouldn’t suspect that she was leaving for good, she left not for the next customer but for the Philippine embassy.
When she returned home, Kristine immediately filed a case of illegal recruitment against her recruiter-neighbor.
For many Filipinos, Singapore is another land of opportunity. The growing number of Filipino professionals working in the city-state attests to this reality. But another reality exists: Filipino women are being deceived into sex jobs there.
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: November 06, 2007
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