November 28, 2010 - THERE IS no ban on sending of workers to South Korea, officials said yesterday, with concerned agencies reviewing future deployment.
Deputy Spokesman Abigail D. Valte clarified a Palace statement at the weekend which stated that President Benigno S. C. Aquino III has suspended the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to South Korea.
"There was confusion. Some media thought there’s a ban on deployment. It’s not the case," she said over state-run dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.
Reports about the policy circulated after Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz said in a statement that the departure of 55 OFWs for South Korea last week has been deferred to Dec. 7.
"There is no order to suspend temporarily the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to South Korea," Ms. Baldoz clarified in a statement yesterday.
"The government team, headed by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo and which the President had directed to assess the situation, had recommended this decision [deferment of departure] as a matter of caution and prudence," Ms. Baldoz added.
Further decisions to deploy OFWs, she said, will have to be reviewed by the team of Special Envoy Roy A. Cimatu of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee. The group has been ordered to go to Seoul to monitor the situation.
The Palace said on Friday the government has a contingency plan for the over 50,000 Filipinos in South Korea in case hostilities escalate ,with the President directing the DFA to conduct test runs of evacuation strategies.
The Office of the President has also conferred with officials of major local carriers for assistance should there be a need to evacuate Filipinos.
The fragile peace in the Korean peninsula was shaken Tuesday after the North shelled civilian communities in the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
The North has claimed it was provoked by the South. Tensions heightened as United States and South Korean forces held earlier scheduled joint military exercises in the area at the weekend, with Washington sending the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and several warships. -- Ana Mae G. Roa, http://www.bworldonline.com
Monday, November 29, 2010
Plans for Filipino social club get a boost
Nov 29, 2010: DUBAI // After 20 years on the drawing board, plans to build a Filipino social club to serve Dubai and the Northern Emirates are gathering steam as a representative of the consulate prepares to meet authorities to secure a plot of land from the Government.
Analiza Magno Concepcion, the chairman of an organising committee that governs 90 Filipino groups in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, said creating such a hub was the "ultimate goal" of her one-year term.
The Philippine consul-general, Benito Valeriano, is to meet Dubai authorities this week to discuss the issue.
"It's easy for us to build it, once we secure a plot from the authorities," said Ms Concepcion, who will also attend the meeting. "If 400,000 Filipinos here donate Dh5 each, it would definitely be a good start."
In November last year, Grace Princesa, the Philippine ambassador to the UAE, said that establishing community centres in the different emirates, where her compatriots could meet, was a top priority.
"We should all work together in achieving this goal," Ms Princesa said this week. "If allowed by the local authorities, these centres would be a good way to showcase our world-class products, conduct financial literacy courses and other reintegration programmes."
Jun Tupas, 56, a regional quality manager in Dubai who has lived in the UAE for the past 26 years, said the project was great news for the Filipino community.
"We've been dreaming about a Filipino social club for the past 20 years," he said.
"It will be an ideal place for the heads of the community organisations to meet in and conduct training programmes, and for our compatriots to engage in social, cultural and sport activities."
To kickstart the financial drive, the community is preparing for the Bayanihan 2010 celebration, to be held on December 10 at The Philippine School in Rashidiya district. The day will serve as an important fundraiser for the social club, Ms Princesa said.
Nicasio Atienza, 43, a maintenance engineer in Dubai, runs the Dubai chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity and said its members would support the campaign to raise funds for the proposed club.
"It was a dream of those who lived and worked here for many years," he said. "The former leaders of the community had earlier attempted to work on this project, but it didn't materialise."
Grayson Servinas, 29, a warehouse manager in Dubai and a co-founder of the Confederation of Ilocano Associations in Dubai, said his organisation would pitch in with fundraising. "It would be great to have our own place for conferences and other social gatherings," he said.
Most of the 600,000 Filipinos who live and work in the Emirates are located in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, according to a 2008 stock estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas in Manila. About 120,000 are in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. - Ramona Ruiz (rruiz@thenational.ae), http://www.thenational.ae
Analiza Magno Concepcion, the chairman of an organising committee that governs 90 Filipino groups in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, said creating such a hub was the "ultimate goal" of her one-year term.
The Philippine consul-general, Benito Valeriano, is to meet Dubai authorities this week to discuss the issue.
"It's easy for us to build it, once we secure a plot from the authorities," said Ms Concepcion, who will also attend the meeting. "If 400,000 Filipinos here donate Dh5 each, it would definitely be a good start."
In November last year, Grace Princesa, the Philippine ambassador to the UAE, said that establishing community centres in the different emirates, where her compatriots could meet, was a top priority.
"We should all work together in achieving this goal," Ms Princesa said this week. "If allowed by the local authorities, these centres would be a good way to showcase our world-class products, conduct financial literacy courses and other reintegration programmes."
Jun Tupas, 56, a regional quality manager in Dubai who has lived in the UAE for the past 26 years, said the project was great news for the Filipino community.
"We've been dreaming about a Filipino social club for the past 20 years," he said.
"It will be an ideal place for the heads of the community organisations to meet in and conduct training programmes, and for our compatriots to engage in social, cultural and sport activities."
To kickstart the financial drive, the community is preparing for the Bayanihan 2010 celebration, to be held on December 10 at The Philippine School in Rashidiya district. The day will serve as an important fundraiser for the social club, Ms Princesa said.
Nicasio Atienza, 43, a maintenance engineer in Dubai, runs the Dubai chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity and said its members would support the campaign to raise funds for the proposed club.
"It was a dream of those who lived and worked here for many years," he said. "The former leaders of the community had earlier attempted to work on this project, but it didn't materialise."
Grayson Servinas, 29, a warehouse manager in Dubai and a co-founder of the Confederation of Ilocano Associations in Dubai, said his organisation would pitch in with fundraising. "It would be great to have our own place for conferences and other social gatherings," he said.
Most of the 600,000 Filipinos who live and work in the Emirates are located in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, according to a 2008 stock estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas in Manila. About 120,000 are in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. - Ramona Ruiz (rruiz@thenational.ae), http://www.thenational.ae
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Seoul Diary: Living & Working in Seoul, Korea
by David Ritchie
Want to see how agreeable city life can be? Come with me to Seoul, where I live and work.
Get off the subway at Kyongbokkung, site of ancient Kyongbok Palace. Look around the grounds for a few minutes if you like, and then stroll out through Kwanghwamun Gate and down Sejong-ro, Seoul's equivalent of Park Avenue.
Click here to read the article.
Want to see how agreeable city life can be? Come with me to Seoul, where I live and work.
Get off the subway at Kyongbokkung, site of ancient Kyongbok Palace. Look around the grounds for a few minutes if you like, and then stroll out through Kwanghwamun Gate and down Sejong-ro, Seoul's equivalent of Park Avenue.
Click here to read the article.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Abuse Of Immigrant Workers In South Korea
27 February, 2010- An Amnesty International report, entitled “Disposable labour: Rights of migrant workers in South Korea,” documents the abhorrent working conditions that immigrants face. The study, released last October, clearly establishes that while South Korea was one of the first Asian countries to formally recognise the rights of foreign migrant workers, its Employment Permit System (EPS) does nothing more than legitimise the brutal exploitation of cheap labour from poorer countries.
Under the EPS, introduced in 2004, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that employ less than 300 workers can hire migrants from 15 approved countries, mainly from China (especially Korean-Chinese), Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. As of October 2009, there were about 680,000 migrant workers in South Korea, mainly working in factories producing textiles and electronics, but also involved in prostitution.
South Korea’s export-led economy has been increasingly squeezed, as it cannot compete with China’s vast cheap labour, nor is it technologically advanced enough to rival Japan. Introducing foreign low-cost labour became a key policy, not only to boost profitability for the corporations directly hiring them, but to use them to undermine the wages and conditions of the working class as whole. More than five million workers, or one-third of the South Korean workforce, have already been made contract workers, receiving just 60 percent of the average wages of permanent workers.
The report noted: “Although low-skilled South Korean workers also suffer from some of the abusive work conditions documented in this report, migrant workers are at greater risk because of their status. Both regular and irregular migrant workers face discrimination, and verbal and physical abuse in the workplace. They are required to work long hours and night shifts, many without overtime pay, and often have their wages withheld. On average, they are paid less than South Korean workers in similar jobs and are at greater risk of industrial accidents with inadequate medical treatment or compensation. EPS workers are tied to their employer and face restrictions in changing jobs, making them particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation such as unfair dismissal.”
The introduction of cheap immigrant labour is bound up with the contradictions of South Korea’s industrialisation. Large Korean corporations are able to move parts of production overseas, where wages are much lower than in South Korea. But Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), with no capital to do so, can remain competitive only by relying on migrant workers who are attracted to South Korea by the illusion that they will be offered good jobs and earn money to support their families. From the 1980s, illegal migrant workers appeared in South Korea, forcing the government to introduce various schemes in the 1990s to regulate this market.
Before 2004, the system allowed the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses to extract exorbitant recruitment fees from foreign workers, forcing many to incur large debts, thus leading them to stay as “irregular” workers beyond the legally allowed three-year period. Proposed legislation for limited reform of the migrant work scheme was put on hold at the outbreak of Asian financial crisis in 1997–98.
By 2002, a staggering 85 percent of the low-skilled migrant workers were “irregular”—a situation that led to the introduction of the EPS, under the pretext of providing basic protections lacking in the former programs.
The EPS, however, traps workers even before they leave their home countries. Workers seeking to immigrate often must pay outrageous broker fees in order to obtain work permits. Amnesty International reports that these broker fees, on average, cost $US2,000, but can go as high as $9,500. In other words, workers are often in debt even before they arrive.
Workers under the EPS are bound to their employers for a three-year period, during which they are forbidden to change jobs without their employers’ permission. Even then, workers may shift employment only four times, making it less likely that they will complain about poor working conditions. On top of that, workers are allotted two months to find a new job after leaving an employer, or they become irregular, a status most workers want to avoid.
What makes the situation worse is that employers must renew workers’ contracts each year. This is to ensure that workers remain submissive, no matter how bad the conditions, placing migrant workers at the risk of verbal and physical abuse, sexual harassment and the withholding of wages.
According to a 2008 survey cited by Amnesty International, more than 50 percent of migrant workers indicated that their wages, working hours, provision of food and accommodation, and breaks and rest days were different from what their employer had originally promised. Wages were often withheld from migrant workers, especially in the months leading up to the conclusion of a contract, because employers knew that workers would not have the time or ability to file a complaint and stay in South Korea long enough to recover lost wages.
Many migrant workers find that the accommodation promised to them is nothing more than shipping containers on land owned by the company. Migrants are also forced to work long hours with few rest days. A Filipino worker employed at an electronics factory told Amnesty: “We were given only one day off per month and sometimes when it was busy, the management would even make you work on your free day. Korean workers were able to take days off regularly and didn’t have to work such crazy hours like we did. On top of all this, our severance pay did not include overtime, which is significant considering the amount of overtime we did.”
For many female migrant workers, sexual harassment—which can take place in the workplace or in their living quarters—becomes the norm. Out of fear of losing their jobs, many choose not to report sexual abuse. Even if a woman does so, she often has little choice but to stay at the company with which she is employed, until the case is resolved. In some cases, that can take two months, but the process can drag on for much longer because investigations are conducted at the convenience of the employer.
The ugliest exploitation of female workers occurs in the “entertainment sector”. Women are unknowingly recruited to be prostitutes, which is illegal but essentially sanctioned by the government, which issues special E-6 visas for them. Amnesty noted: “Upon arrival in South Korea, they discover that their job in reality is to serve and solicit drinks from US soldiers and at some establishments they are forced to have sex with their clients. With little recourse available to them, trafficked E-6 workers either remain in their jobs or run away. Those who run away are doubly victimised, first as trafficked women and then as ‘illegal’ migrants under South Korean law.”
Just as the global financial crisis erupted in September 2008, the government announced it would “harshly deal with illegal foreigners” and halve the estimated 220,000 illegal migrant workers by 2012. The result is dramatically increased, and sometimes violent, raids in workplaces, streets, markets and even homes, resulting in deportations. At the same time, thousands of foreign workers are being recruited into the country each month “legally”.
This fact alone should make it abundantly clear the government’s true purpose. By last year, one third of migrant workers had become “irregular”. The threat of illegal status is used to provide the capitalist elite with cheap labour that is more compliant and easily manipulated, in order to lower the wages and conditions of the entire working class. - By Ben McGrath, WSWS.org
Under the EPS, introduced in 2004, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that employ less than 300 workers can hire migrants from 15 approved countries, mainly from China (especially Korean-Chinese), Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. As of October 2009, there were about 680,000 migrant workers in South Korea, mainly working in factories producing textiles and electronics, but also involved in prostitution.
South Korea’s export-led economy has been increasingly squeezed, as it cannot compete with China’s vast cheap labour, nor is it technologically advanced enough to rival Japan. Introducing foreign low-cost labour became a key policy, not only to boost profitability for the corporations directly hiring them, but to use them to undermine the wages and conditions of the working class as whole. More than five million workers, or one-third of the South Korean workforce, have already been made contract workers, receiving just 60 percent of the average wages of permanent workers.
The report noted: “Although low-skilled South Korean workers also suffer from some of the abusive work conditions documented in this report, migrant workers are at greater risk because of their status. Both regular and irregular migrant workers face discrimination, and verbal and physical abuse in the workplace. They are required to work long hours and night shifts, many without overtime pay, and often have their wages withheld. On average, they are paid less than South Korean workers in similar jobs and are at greater risk of industrial accidents with inadequate medical treatment or compensation. EPS workers are tied to their employer and face restrictions in changing jobs, making them particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation such as unfair dismissal.”
The introduction of cheap immigrant labour is bound up with the contradictions of South Korea’s industrialisation. Large Korean corporations are able to move parts of production overseas, where wages are much lower than in South Korea. But Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), with no capital to do so, can remain competitive only by relying on migrant workers who are attracted to South Korea by the illusion that they will be offered good jobs and earn money to support their families. From the 1980s, illegal migrant workers appeared in South Korea, forcing the government to introduce various schemes in the 1990s to regulate this market.
Before 2004, the system allowed the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses to extract exorbitant recruitment fees from foreign workers, forcing many to incur large debts, thus leading them to stay as “irregular” workers beyond the legally allowed three-year period. Proposed legislation for limited reform of the migrant work scheme was put on hold at the outbreak of Asian financial crisis in 1997–98.
By 2002, a staggering 85 percent of the low-skilled migrant workers were “irregular”—a situation that led to the introduction of the EPS, under the pretext of providing basic protections lacking in the former programs.
The EPS, however, traps workers even before they leave their home countries. Workers seeking to immigrate often must pay outrageous broker fees in order to obtain work permits. Amnesty International reports that these broker fees, on average, cost $US2,000, but can go as high as $9,500. In other words, workers are often in debt even before they arrive.
Workers under the EPS are bound to their employers for a three-year period, during which they are forbidden to change jobs without their employers’ permission. Even then, workers may shift employment only four times, making it less likely that they will complain about poor working conditions. On top of that, workers are allotted two months to find a new job after leaving an employer, or they become irregular, a status most workers want to avoid.
What makes the situation worse is that employers must renew workers’ contracts each year. This is to ensure that workers remain submissive, no matter how bad the conditions, placing migrant workers at the risk of verbal and physical abuse, sexual harassment and the withholding of wages.
According to a 2008 survey cited by Amnesty International, more than 50 percent of migrant workers indicated that their wages, working hours, provision of food and accommodation, and breaks and rest days were different from what their employer had originally promised. Wages were often withheld from migrant workers, especially in the months leading up to the conclusion of a contract, because employers knew that workers would not have the time or ability to file a complaint and stay in South Korea long enough to recover lost wages.
Many migrant workers find that the accommodation promised to them is nothing more than shipping containers on land owned by the company. Migrants are also forced to work long hours with few rest days. A Filipino worker employed at an electronics factory told Amnesty: “We were given only one day off per month and sometimes when it was busy, the management would even make you work on your free day. Korean workers were able to take days off regularly and didn’t have to work such crazy hours like we did. On top of all this, our severance pay did not include overtime, which is significant considering the amount of overtime we did.”
For many female migrant workers, sexual harassment—which can take place in the workplace or in their living quarters—becomes the norm. Out of fear of losing their jobs, many choose not to report sexual abuse. Even if a woman does so, she often has little choice but to stay at the company with which she is employed, until the case is resolved. In some cases, that can take two months, but the process can drag on for much longer because investigations are conducted at the convenience of the employer.
The ugliest exploitation of female workers occurs in the “entertainment sector”. Women are unknowingly recruited to be prostitutes, which is illegal but essentially sanctioned by the government, which issues special E-6 visas for them. Amnesty noted: “Upon arrival in South Korea, they discover that their job in reality is to serve and solicit drinks from US soldiers and at some establishments they are forced to have sex with their clients. With little recourse available to them, trafficked E-6 workers either remain in their jobs or run away. Those who run away are doubly victimised, first as trafficked women and then as ‘illegal’ migrants under South Korean law.”
Just as the global financial crisis erupted in September 2008, the government announced it would “harshly deal with illegal foreigners” and halve the estimated 220,000 illegal migrant workers by 2012. The result is dramatically increased, and sometimes violent, raids in workplaces, streets, markets and even homes, resulting in deportations. At the same time, thousands of foreign workers are being recruited into the country each month “legally”.
This fact alone should make it abundantly clear the government’s true purpose. By last year, one third of migrant workers had become “irregular”. The threat of illegal status is used to provide the capitalist elite with cheap labour that is more compliant and easily manipulated, in order to lower the wages and conditions of the entire working class. - By Ben McGrath, WSWS.org
Friday, November 26, 2010
Verdict favours Filipino workers
November 26, 2010 - THE Dubai Labour Court (DLC) has ruled in favour of four cleaners who are among 83 women workers from the Philippines, who had filed a case against their Emirati employer for abandonment since 2009.
On Thursday, Labour Attache for Dubai and the Northern Emirates Amilbahar Amilasan told The Gulf Today that the DLC had decided that Maria Elena Amba, Merly Perez, Jonalyn Dordas and Mary Grace Teneros, be paid their two months salary of Dhs1,400 each by Lavito Cleaning Services firm owner KHAM.
Amilasan said the four are expected to receive their salary 15 days after the DLC announced the verdict on Nov. 24.
Amilasan said the DLC gave weight on KHAM’s non-appearance throughout the trial, thereby waiving his right to contest the complaint for the non-payment of salaries.
He said, Dubai Ministry of Labour (MoL) would release the payment for the salaries, secured from the bond KHAM had deposited with the government office, when he hired over 90 Filipino women cleaners.
Of the over 90, at least seven had gone home for health reasons and after experiencing delayed salaries, inhumane living conditions.
“The court has also allowed the four to seek re-employment in the UAE,” Amilasan said.
Assistant Labour Attache Venus Abad said the employment papers of the four women are already being processed by the Micro for Services cleaning firm.
Micro for Services is one of two companies-the other one is Prime Technical Services-which have been accredited by the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Dubai (Polo-Dubai)-to employ at least 25 of the 83 women.
These firms passed all of the standards set by the Philippine government in terms of the employees’ benefits and privileges, the physical existence of their offices as well as the accommodations, Abad said.
The four women said they will be cleaners at a government school in Fujeirah.
They were the first to lodge the complaint against KHAM before the MoL on July 27, 2010.
They filed a case against KHAM before the Naif Police Station for the retrieval of their passports on Aug.10.
DLC hearings began on Sept.3.
Thereafter, the DLC has been attending to three other related cases filed against KHAM by the other 79.
The 79 must be paid Dhs7,000 each, once they win their respective cases, based on the MoL computations and analysis of their gratuities, unpaid salaries and other unmet benefits and privileges, Amilasan said.
It was learnt that 55 of the 79 are currently sheltered at the Polo-Dubai Filipino Workers Resource Centre.
Of these, 11 had expressed their desire to return home and awaiting their airline tickets to be shouldered in the meantime by the Philippines’ Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
As stipulated in the laws governing the overseas employment of Filipinos, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) shall press for the manpower agencies of these women to pay for their repatriation tickets.
These are the Al Dana in Dubai and the Al Farabi in Metro Manila.
Al Dana remains to be blacklisted by Polo-Dubai from May 2, 2009 when then Labour Attache Virginia Calves received the first major complaint of contract substitution (salary down to Dhs800 from Dhs1,800) contrary to contracts signed in Metro Manila.
Al Farabi was shut down by the POEA. - Mariecar Jara-Puyod, http://gulftoday.ae
On Thursday, Labour Attache for Dubai and the Northern Emirates Amilbahar Amilasan told The Gulf Today that the DLC had decided that Maria Elena Amba, Merly Perez, Jonalyn Dordas and Mary Grace Teneros, be paid their two months salary of Dhs1,400 each by Lavito Cleaning Services firm owner KHAM.
Amilasan said the four are expected to receive their salary 15 days after the DLC announced the verdict on Nov. 24.
Amilasan said the DLC gave weight on KHAM’s non-appearance throughout the trial, thereby waiving his right to contest the complaint for the non-payment of salaries.
He said, Dubai Ministry of Labour (MoL) would release the payment for the salaries, secured from the bond KHAM had deposited with the government office, when he hired over 90 Filipino women cleaners.
Of the over 90, at least seven had gone home for health reasons and after experiencing delayed salaries, inhumane living conditions.
“The court has also allowed the four to seek re-employment in the UAE,” Amilasan said.
Assistant Labour Attache Venus Abad said the employment papers of the four women are already being processed by the Micro for Services cleaning firm.
Micro for Services is one of two companies-the other one is Prime Technical Services-which have been accredited by the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Dubai (Polo-Dubai)-to employ at least 25 of the 83 women.
These firms passed all of the standards set by the Philippine government in terms of the employees’ benefits and privileges, the physical existence of their offices as well as the accommodations, Abad said.
The four women said they will be cleaners at a government school in Fujeirah.
They were the first to lodge the complaint against KHAM before the MoL on July 27, 2010.
They filed a case against KHAM before the Naif Police Station for the retrieval of their passports on Aug.10.
DLC hearings began on Sept.3.
Thereafter, the DLC has been attending to three other related cases filed against KHAM by the other 79.
The 79 must be paid Dhs7,000 each, once they win their respective cases, based on the MoL computations and analysis of their gratuities, unpaid salaries and other unmet benefits and privileges, Amilasan said.
It was learnt that 55 of the 79 are currently sheltered at the Polo-Dubai Filipino Workers Resource Centre.
Of these, 11 had expressed their desire to return home and awaiting their airline tickets to be shouldered in the meantime by the Philippines’ Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
As stipulated in the laws governing the overseas employment of Filipinos, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) shall press for the manpower agencies of these women to pay for their repatriation tickets.
These are the Al Dana in Dubai and the Al Farabi in Metro Manila.
Al Dana remains to be blacklisted by Polo-Dubai from May 2, 2009 when then Labour Attache Virginia Calves received the first major complaint of contract substitution (salary down to Dhs800 from Dhs1,800) contrary to contracts signed in Metro Manila.
Al Farabi was shut down by the POEA. - Mariecar Jara-Puyod, http://gulftoday.ae
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Filipino Scholar Conquers South Korean Airwaves
September 11, 2008: SEOUL, South Korea-”Ang programang ito ay para sa ating lahat!” (This program is for all of us) DJ Regina greets her listeners to inspire and brighten up the Filipino community on her daily radio program for the multicultural family broadcast in South Korea.
Sponsored by Woongjin foundation in partnership with Digital Radio Kiss and Digital Skynet, this radio program is the first to showcase Filipino OPM songs with current news and information related to labor, tourism and the daily lives of Filipino expatriates in the Korean peninsula.
DJ Regina or Maria Regina Panol Arquiza said that it was the Philippine Embassy that informed her organization, Pinoy Iskolar in Korea (PIKO), about the urgent need for a radio broadcaster to address Filipino women married to Koreans.
Before she started to start conquering the Korean airwaves, it took a few months of advertisements in different Filipino communities in metropolitan Seoul and nearby provinces and even an announcement by Philippine Ambassador Luis Cruz in Catholic churches for the long search to finally discover Regina, a scholar of Media Studies, Advertising and Public Relations in Ewah Womans University.
St. Scholastica’s College graduate
Regina earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications, minor in Print Journalism in 2005.
“There is one very important quote that my favorite professor in St. Scho was always telling us,” she says, “‘If you educate a man, you educate an individual but if you educate a woman, you educate a community” and I won’t forget it,” said DJ Regina.
The radio program is a way for her to entertain and educate her fellow women. “It isn’t just about knowing the issues, it’s more on understanding the heart of the issues,” she added.
Born in Camarines Norte
The 24 year-old Bicolana, now the first Filipino radio broadcaster in South Korea, was born on Feb. 1, 1984 in Daet, Camarines Norte where her parents Reynaldo and Julieta Arquiza ran an agriculture business.
As the youngest in the family, she has fond memories of sharing dreams about working for the Filipino community outside the Philippines with her sister Maria Soledad and brother Rey Franco. Regina shared the early achievements of her siblings but added that she’s proud to be the most diligent and hardworking.
“ I really feel so blessed for having such a supportive and loving family – they inspired me the most to conquer my dreams through God-given talents and share the passion in this kind of endeavor,” she added.
Work and Studies in South Korea
Regina needed to make adjustments in her daily routine because she now needs to prepare her scripts for the program as she keeps her scholarship in one of the top universities in Seoul.
She has also become an instant public figure among the various Filipino communities, featured in leading national broadsheets like The Chosun Ilbo and JoongAng Daily, and TV programs like MBC, SBS and KBS of South Korea.
“Before the program started, I read a lot of articles about migrant women in Korea and other parts of the world for I‘ve learned that there are so many issues and problems that make me value my worth as a woman and take the opportunity to become an instrument in touching the lives of other migrants, especially women,” Regina said.
There are two difficult things that challenge her. “The first is understanding deeply the issues related to Filipina migrants with Korean spouses in Korea. It has been said that there will always be two sides in a coin. In this case I have to understand both sides of the issues, and that requires patience and deep analysis of the problems at hand.
“The second thing I consider difficult in this is the Korean language. Proficiency in it is very important to fully understand the existing issues written or even broadcast in this country,” she continued.
Regina’s program, aired at 3 am, 9am, 3 pm and 9 pm, is broadcast in four languages, with Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai also part of the multicultural Family Broadcast on Skylife Channel 855, Cable TV thru C&M Channel 312 and websites thru Woongjin Foundation: www.wjfoundation.or.kr and Digital Radio KISS.
“I am expecting that this multilingual radio broadcasting program is going to serve as a bridge to the gap between Koreans and Filipinos. It’s about time for both sides to understand each other’s cultures and thoughts more deeply. And then, I do have great hope that this program will help Filipino migrants enhance their cultural identity and it will serve as a channel to disseminate relevant information in empowering the people with information,” said DJ Regina. - Elizer Peñaranda, INQUIRER.net
Sponsored by Woongjin foundation in partnership with Digital Radio Kiss and Digital Skynet, this radio program is the first to showcase Filipino OPM songs with current news and information related to labor, tourism and the daily lives of Filipino expatriates in the Korean peninsula.
DJ Regina or Maria Regina Panol Arquiza said that it was the Philippine Embassy that informed her organization, Pinoy Iskolar in Korea (PIKO), about the urgent need for a radio broadcaster to address Filipino women married to Koreans.
Before she started to start conquering the Korean airwaves, it took a few months of advertisements in different Filipino communities in metropolitan Seoul and nearby provinces and even an announcement by Philippine Ambassador Luis Cruz in Catholic churches for the long search to finally discover Regina, a scholar of Media Studies, Advertising and Public Relations in Ewah Womans University.
St. Scholastica’s College graduate
Regina earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications, minor in Print Journalism in 2005.
“There is one very important quote that my favorite professor in St. Scho was always telling us,” she says, “‘If you educate a man, you educate an individual but if you educate a woman, you educate a community” and I won’t forget it,” said DJ Regina.
The radio program is a way for her to entertain and educate her fellow women. “It isn’t just about knowing the issues, it’s more on understanding the heart of the issues,” she added.
Born in Camarines Norte
The 24 year-old Bicolana, now the first Filipino radio broadcaster in South Korea, was born on Feb. 1, 1984 in Daet, Camarines Norte where her parents Reynaldo and Julieta Arquiza ran an agriculture business.
As the youngest in the family, she has fond memories of sharing dreams about working for the Filipino community outside the Philippines with her sister Maria Soledad and brother Rey Franco. Regina shared the early achievements of her siblings but added that she’s proud to be the most diligent and hardworking.
“ I really feel so blessed for having such a supportive and loving family – they inspired me the most to conquer my dreams through God-given talents and share the passion in this kind of endeavor,” she added.
Work and Studies in South Korea
Regina needed to make adjustments in her daily routine because she now needs to prepare her scripts for the program as she keeps her scholarship in one of the top universities in Seoul.
She has also become an instant public figure among the various Filipino communities, featured in leading national broadsheets like The Chosun Ilbo and JoongAng Daily, and TV programs like MBC, SBS and KBS of South Korea.
“Before the program started, I read a lot of articles about migrant women in Korea and other parts of the world for I‘ve learned that there are so many issues and problems that make me value my worth as a woman and take the opportunity to become an instrument in touching the lives of other migrants, especially women,” Regina said.
There are two difficult things that challenge her. “The first is understanding deeply the issues related to Filipina migrants with Korean spouses in Korea. It has been said that there will always be two sides in a coin. In this case I have to understand both sides of the issues, and that requires patience and deep analysis of the problems at hand.
“The second thing I consider difficult in this is the Korean language. Proficiency in it is very important to fully understand the existing issues written or even broadcast in this country,” she continued.
Regina’s program, aired at 3 am, 9am, 3 pm and 9 pm, is broadcast in four languages, with Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai also part of the multicultural Family Broadcast on Skylife Channel 855, Cable TV thru C&M Channel 312 and websites thru Woongjin Foundation: www.wjfoundation.or.kr and Digital Radio KISS.
“I am expecting that this multilingual radio broadcasting program is going to serve as a bridge to the gap between Koreans and Filipinos. It’s about time for both sides to understand each other’s cultures and thoughts more deeply. And then, I do have great hope that this program will help Filipino migrants enhance their cultural identity and it will serve as a channel to disseminate relevant information in empowering the people with information,” said DJ Regina. - Elizer Peñaranda, INQUIRER.net
S. Korea, Japan have world's fastest Internet links
February 02, 2010: TOKYO—East Asian countries led by South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan are the best wired in the world with the highest number of fast broadband connections to the Internet, a recent report has found.
South Korea boasts the world's highest average connection speed at 14.6 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and also has six of Asia's ten cities with the fastest link-ups, all with average speeds above 15 Mbps.
Japan had the second highest average connection speed of 7.9 Mbps, followed by the Chinese territory of Hong Kong with 7.6 Mbps, said the report by US-based network provider Akamai Technologies.
The other countries in the top ten are Romania, followed by Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, with the United States at 18th place, with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps.
The survey classifies "broadband" connections as those of 2 Mbps or more, and "high broadband" as 5 Mbps or over, while link-ups at 20 Mbps and better were categorized as "extremely high speed connectivity."
In South Korea, 74 percent of connections were "high broadband," the world's top rate, while the figure was 60 percent in Japan, followed by Hong Kong with 46 percent, said the report.
The United States came twelfth, with just 24 percent of its connections at 5 Mbps or more. Worldwide, the high broadband percentage was 19 percent.
Growing demand for online high-definition video content is driving demand for faster connections, said Akamai's 'State of the Internet' report for the third quarter of 2009.
"As the quantity of HD-quality media increases over time and the consumption of that media increases, end users are likely to require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth," the report said. - Agence France-Presse/INQUIRER.net
South Korea boasts the world's highest average connection speed at 14.6 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and also has six of Asia's ten cities with the fastest link-ups, all with average speeds above 15 Mbps.
Japan had the second highest average connection speed of 7.9 Mbps, followed by the Chinese territory of Hong Kong with 7.6 Mbps, said the report by US-based network provider Akamai Technologies.
The other countries in the top ten are Romania, followed by Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, with the United States at 18th place, with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps.
The survey classifies "broadband" connections as those of 2 Mbps or more, and "high broadband" as 5 Mbps or over, while link-ups at 20 Mbps and better were categorized as "extremely high speed connectivity."
In South Korea, 74 percent of connections were "high broadband," the world's top rate, while the figure was 60 percent in Japan, followed by Hong Kong with 46 percent, said the report.
The United States came twelfth, with just 24 percent of its connections at 5 Mbps or more. Worldwide, the high broadband percentage was 19 percent.
Growing demand for online high-definition video content is driving demand for faster connections, said Akamai's 'State of the Internet' report for the third quarter of 2009.
"As the quantity of HD-quality media increases over time and the consumption of that media increases, end users are likely to require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth," the report said. - Agence France-Presse/INQUIRER.net
Migrant worker wins essay writing contest on Rizal in Korea
May 27, 2010: MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Ambassador to Seoul Luis T. Cruz announced Thursday the winners of the embassy-sponsored essay writing contest held from February to April as part of activities to commemorate the 149th birth anniversary of national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, on June 19.
Christian Romero, an employee of the Samsung Corporate Research and Development Institute, topped Category B, which focused on the theme “Finding Jose Rizal in South Korea: A Migrant’s Perspective.”
The category, one of two, was open to all migrant Filipinos in South Korea, including students, workers and spouses of Korean nationals.
In his essay, Romero wrote how it could have been like for Rizal as a migrant Filipino during his time and compared the hero’s experiences with the present situation of OFWs.
“[Today,] access to emigration is seen by many as the only viable way out of poverty... While most of us found financial liberty abroad, Rizal found intellectual freedom and enlightenment,” Romero wrote, asserting that “from [Rizal’s] time until today, poverty is still an enemy that enslaves our nation.”
Romero emphasized that Rizal, too, found difficulties as a migrant. “Just like the migrants I knew from the international migrant center in my small Filipino community, Rizal had his own false expectations and was also likely a victim of circumstances,” he said.
Romero, a native of Pangasinan, has been living in South Korea for three years. He learned of the contest while gathering information about the Overseas Absentee Voting from the embassy’s website.
“With his experience as a migrant, Rizal found a door to vast opportunities,” said Romero, adding that Rizal dedicated himself to learning and eventually returned to the Philippines with maturity, fully armed to face challenges and defeat the enemy.
“If every Filipino will take rigid adhesion to Rizal’s own perspective as a migrant … perhaps we can be set free from the enemy,” he said.
Other winners were Alfonso Delgado (2nd place), who wrote, in Tagalog, a fictional letter by Rizal addressed to OFWs; and Vicente Angel Ybiernas and Mr. Inrico Orbe, who tied for third for their essays that identified attributes common between Rizal and migrant Filipinos, such as perseverance and a drive for excellence.
Category A was open to Korean nationals who were required to write about “The Philippines and the Korean War” in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War this year. The Philippines deployed more than 7,000 soldiers to help in the defense of South Korea from 1950 to 1955.
Kim Jae-ho, Mr. Lee San-ha, and Ms. Kyu Moon-na won first, second and third places, respectively.
Kim called for greater cooperation between the Philippines and South Korea, recalling the bond that had formed between the two countries over the years. He traced the development of ties from military collaboration in the past to a comprehensive partnership today that included robust trade and people-to-people exchange.
The top winners from both categories will each receive a Medal of Academic Excellence from the Office of the President, a roundtrip ticket to the Philippines and a cash prize, while the runners-up will receive a Certificate of Excellence from the Philippine Embassy in South Korea. The Awarding Ceremony will take place at the Seoul Global Center on June 19.
The essay-writing contest was conducted in partnership with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Resource Persons Group (an association of Filipino professors based in South Korea), the Seoul Global Center, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. - INQUIRER.net
Christian Romero, an employee of the Samsung Corporate Research and Development Institute, topped Category B, which focused on the theme “Finding Jose Rizal in South Korea: A Migrant’s Perspective.”
The category, one of two, was open to all migrant Filipinos in South Korea, including students, workers and spouses of Korean nationals.
In his essay, Romero wrote how it could have been like for Rizal as a migrant Filipino during his time and compared the hero’s experiences with the present situation of OFWs.
“[Today,] access to emigration is seen by many as the only viable way out of poverty... While most of us found financial liberty abroad, Rizal found intellectual freedom and enlightenment,” Romero wrote, asserting that “from [Rizal’s] time until today, poverty is still an enemy that enslaves our nation.”
Romero emphasized that Rizal, too, found difficulties as a migrant. “Just like the migrants I knew from the international migrant center in my small Filipino community, Rizal had his own false expectations and was also likely a victim of circumstances,” he said.
Romero, a native of Pangasinan, has been living in South Korea for three years. He learned of the contest while gathering information about the Overseas Absentee Voting from the embassy’s website.
“With his experience as a migrant, Rizal found a door to vast opportunities,” said Romero, adding that Rizal dedicated himself to learning and eventually returned to the Philippines with maturity, fully armed to face challenges and defeat the enemy.
“If every Filipino will take rigid adhesion to Rizal’s own perspective as a migrant … perhaps we can be set free from the enemy,” he said.
Other winners were Alfonso Delgado (2nd place), who wrote, in Tagalog, a fictional letter by Rizal addressed to OFWs; and Vicente Angel Ybiernas and Mr. Inrico Orbe, who tied for third for their essays that identified attributes common between Rizal and migrant Filipinos, such as perseverance and a drive for excellence.
Category A was open to Korean nationals who were required to write about “The Philippines and the Korean War” in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War this year. The Philippines deployed more than 7,000 soldiers to help in the defense of South Korea from 1950 to 1955.
Kim Jae-ho, Mr. Lee San-ha, and Ms. Kyu Moon-na won first, second and third places, respectively.
Kim called for greater cooperation between the Philippines and South Korea, recalling the bond that had formed between the two countries over the years. He traced the development of ties from military collaboration in the past to a comprehensive partnership today that included robust trade and people-to-people exchange.
The top winners from both categories will each receive a Medal of Academic Excellence from the Office of the President, a roundtrip ticket to the Philippines and a cash prize, while the runners-up will receive a Certificate of Excellence from the Philippine Embassy in South Korea. The Awarding Ceremony will take place at the Seoul Global Center on June 19.
The essay-writing contest was conducted in partnership with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Resource Persons Group (an association of Filipino professors based in South Korea), the Seoul Global Center, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. - INQUIRER.net
South Korea allows dual citizenship
May 02, 2010: MANILA, Philippines—The South Korean National Assembly has allowed dual citizenship after it passed revisions on the country’s immigration law, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a news release.
Citing the report of the Philippine embassy in Seoul, the DFA said the new law, which is aimed at preventing brain drain and at bringing in talented foreigners, sets the conditions for dual citizenship.
The following are thus allowed dual citizenship: foreigners with “exceptional talent,” foreigners married to South Koreans, Koreans adopted overseas as minors, Koreans who gained foreign nationality through marriage, overseas Koreans who are over 65 years old, and Koreans who gained dual citizenship at birth, if they apply for dual citizenship and take the oath of allegiance before turning 22 years old.
Previously, South Korea has allowed naturalization only for foreigners who lived there for five years or longer and those who married Korean nationals and have stayed in the country for over two years.
The new immigration law also allowed the collection of fingerprints and photos of foreigners arriving in the country to bolster security against terrorism.
This law would apply to foreigners 17 years old or older, except for officials of foreign governments and international organizations, as well as others exempted under a presidential decree. - INQUIRER.net
Citing the report of the Philippine embassy in Seoul, the DFA said the new law, which is aimed at preventing brain drain and at bringing in talented foreigners, sets the conditions for dual citizenship.
The following are thus allowed dual citizenship: foreigners with “exceptional talent,” foreigners married to South Koreans, Koreans adopted overseas as minors, Koreans who gained foreign nationality through marriage, overseas Koreans who are over 65 years old, and Koreans who gained dual citizenship at birth, if they apply for dual citizenship and take the oath of allegiance before turning 22 years old.
Previously, South Korea has allowed naturalization only for foreigners who lived there for five years or longer and those who married Korean nationals and have stayed in the country for over two years.
The new immigration law also allowed the collection of fingerprints and photos of foreigners arriving in the country to bolster security against terrorism.
This law would apply to foreigners 17 years old or older, except for officials of foreign governments and international organizations, as well as others exempted under a presidential decree. - INQUIRER.net
Need for inter-cultural education in South Korea
March 26, 2008: South Korean President Lee Myung Bak’s initiative to curb abuses experienced by foreign wives of Koreans, particularly those from China, the Philippines and Vietnam, is highly commendable, especially in March, women’s month.
But these wives are not the only victims of abuse by some Koreans. Foreign workers are also experiencing maltreatment from some Korean employers. Compulsory study by Koreans of another culture, whether for inter-racial marriage or employment, is important.
Statistics show that misunderstanding between Korean employers and foreign workers is basically cultural. These foreign workers experience culture shock from misunderstandings due to difficulty with the Korean language. As South Korea welcomes the whole world, it also creates a negative image in the foreign community.
Last February the South Korean Ministry of Labor announced its plan to bring in 132,000 foreign workers to supply the workforce for small and medium-scale industries in the country. But studies show that as the number of foreign workers increases, so do work-related problems.
The foreign community is asking for regular monitoring of the working conditions of foreign workers. There are reports of their predicaments and struggles in their work conditions. Problems usually occur when a foreign worker loses a job and it takes time to find a new one, especially for female workers. Foreign workers and NGOs are requesting for shelter houses for distressed workers under the government-to-government Employment Permit System.
All foreign workers need protection from both the country of origin and South Korea as both sides benefit from foreign workers.
There must also be intensive culture study programs to educate both employers and workers, along with foreign wives and Korean husbands. - Elizer Peñaranda (elizer_penaranda05@yahoo.com), INQUIRER.net
But these wives are not the only victims of abuse by some Koreans. Foreign workers are also experiencing maltreatment from some Korean employers. Compulsory study by Koreans of another culture, whether for inter-racial marriage or employment, is important.
Statistics show that misunderstanding between Korean employers and foreign workers is basically cultural. These foreign workers experience culture shock from misunderstandings due to difficulty with the Korean language. As South Korea welcomes the whole world, it also creates a negative image in the foreign community.
Last February the South Korean Ministry of Labor announced its plan to bring in 132,000 foreign workers to supply the workforce for small and medium-scale industries in the country. But studies show that as the number of foreign workers increases, so do work-related problems.
The foreign community is asking for regular monitoring of the working conditions of foreign workers. There are reports of their predicaments and struggles in their work conditions. Problems usually occur when a foreign worker loses a job and it takes time to find a new one, especially for female workers. Foreign workers and NGOs are requesting for shelter houses for distressed workers under the government-to-government Employment Permit System.
All foreign workers need protection from both the country of origin and South Korea as both sides benefit from foreign workers.
There must also be intensive culture study programs to educate both employers and workers, along with foreign wives and Korean husbands. - Elizer Peñaranda (elizer_penaranda05@yahoo.com), INQUIRER.net
20,000 Filipino workers eyed for South Korea
September 24, 2009: LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines - Some 20,000 Filipinos are needed to work at the newly established Integrated Free Export Zone (IFEZ) Incheon, South Korea, according to presidential economic adviser and Albay governor Joey Salceda.
Salceda said a memorandum of agreement with the Ifez was being finalized to formally implement the hiring of 20,000 workers from the Philippines, especially from Albay province.
Salceda was recently installed as economic adviser of the South Korea Incheon Metropolitan Authority, which is implementing the US$178-billion Ifez project.
Incheon is a highly industrial metropolitan area in South Korea.
“The export zone is the biggest integrated development project whose cost is 35 times the annual infrastructure budget in the Philippines,” Salceda said.
His investiture as adviser of the South Korean authority was held a week ago at Incheon where the ceremony was witnessed by the mayors of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Honolulu, Brisbane and Beijing.
Witnesses also included Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and representatives from 150 major cities in the Asia Pacific.
Salceda was accompanied by four Philippine governors and 14 of the 18 Albay mayors led by Polangui town Mayor Jesus Salceda, the province's League of Municipalities president and father of the governor.
The Philippines sent the biggest delegation, he added.
Salceda said that his economic advice had been frequently sought by Incheon Mayor Sang Soo who, he said, is widely expected to become president of South Korea.
Also in Incheon, the Asia Pacific Cities Summit organizers and participants hailed Albay during its plenary session for having the most unique and creative strategies for development, citing its program on climate change and disaster risk reduction.
The summit moderator specifically highlighted the institutionalization of the Albay Public Safety Emergency Management Office and the Center for Initiatives for Researches in Climate Adaptation. - Rey M. Nasol
Salceda said a memorandum of agreement with the Ifez was being finalized to formally implement the hiring of 20,000 workers from the Philippines, especially from Albay province.
Salceda was recently installed as economic adviser of the South Korea Incheon Metropolitan Authority, which is implementing the US$178-billion Ifez project.
Incheon is a highly industrial metropolitan area in South Korea.
“The export zone is the biggest integrated development project whose cost is 35 times the annual infrastructure budget in the Philippines,” Salceda said.
His investiture as adviser of the South Korean authority was held a week ago at Incheon where the ceremony was witnessed by the mayors of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Honolulu, Brisbane and Beijing.
Witnesses also included Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and representatives from 150 major cities in the Asia Pacific.
Salceda was accompanied by four Philippine governors and 14 of the 18 Albay mayors led by Polangui town Mayor Jesus Salceda, the province's League of Municipalities president and father of the governor.
The Philippines sent the biggest delegation, he added.
Salceda said that his economic advice had been frequently sought by Incheon Mayor Sang Soo who, he said, is widely expected to become president of South Korea.
Also in Incheon, the Asia Pacific Cities Summit organizers and participants hailed Albay during its plenary session for having the most unique and creative strategies for development, citing its program on climate change and disaster risk reduction.
The summit moderator specifically highlighted the institutionalization of the Albay Public Safety Emergency Management Office and the Center for Initiatives for Researches in Climate Adaptation. - Rey M. Nasol
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Over fake AIDS tests certificates: South Korea deports 57 Filipino entertainers
January 11, 2010: MANILA, Philippines—South Korea deported 57 Filipino entertainers over fake AIDS tests certificates required by both countries prior to deployment of migrant workers, the Department of Labor and Employment said Monday.
This prompted Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to order an investigation of the recruitment agency that issued the fake certificates. He said the agency will be sanctioned if found violating Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
He emphasized that to protect OFWs in both the sending and host countries, a strict AIDS test should be made a crucial part of the medical examination required by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration on overseas-bound migrant workers.
“We strongly urge the recruiters to adhere to the stringent requirement and ensure that the credentials and required certificates of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are in accordance with the international standards,” Roque said.
In 2009, Roque said that of the 57 OPAs, 11 were deported on December 7, 18 on December 4, and 28 from July 12 to 16.
One of the deportees, whose identity the department withholds for privacy reasons, said that her agency in the Philippines prepared and submitted all the required documents, including the AIDS test certificates. She added that she, as well as her fellow entertainers, did not undergo a test in the country because the agency and promoter told them that the AIDS test will be conducted in Korea.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Seoul is in the process of inviting the promoter in Korea to shed light on the incident.
Philippine labor attaché to Seoul Delmer Cruz also recommended that reintegration assistance be extended to the deported entertainers “in consideration of their disadvantaged status” through the department’s National Reintegration Center for OFWs and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. - INQUIRER.net
This prompted Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to order an investigation of the recruitment agency that issued the fake certificates. He said the agency will be sanctioned if found violating Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
He emphasized that to protect OFWs in both the sending and host countries, a strict AIDS test should be made a crucial part of the medical examination required by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration on overseas-bound migrant workers.
“We strongly urge the recruiters to adhere to the stringent requirement and ensure that the credentials and required certificates of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are in accordance with the international standards,” Roque said.
In 2009, Roque said that of the 57 OPAs, 11 were deported on December 7, 18 on December 4, and 28 from July 12 to 16.
One of the deportees, whose identity the department withholds for privacy reasons, said that her agency in the Philippines prepared and submitted all the required documents, including the AIDS test certificates. She added that she, as well as her fellow entertainers, did not undergo a test in the country because the agency and promoter told them that the AIDS test will be conducted in Korea.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Seoul is in the process of inviting the promoter in Korea to shed light on the incident.
Philippine labor attaché to Seoul Delmer Cruz also recommended that reintegration assistance be extended to the deported entertainers “in consideration of their disadvantaged status” through the department’s National Reintegration Center for OFWs and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. - INQUIRER.net
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Brokers of migrant workers in Taiwan protest to secure profits
March 10, 2008 - On Jan 28, protesters gathered round the CLA (Council of Labor Affairs); instead of angry unemployed laborers, they were brokers who have made bucks by "importing" migrant labors into Taiwan, protesting for their tarnished business by the "direct employment" policy implemented by the CLA.
"Direct employment" is a policy that labor NGOs have demanded for years. Taiwan has been using migrant workers for 18 years, for as long its society somehow has held discrimination against them, regarding them as highly replaceable workforces. Foreign labor policy is one of the major exploiters of the migrant workers.
Wu Jing-Ru (吳靜如), Secretary General of TIWA (Taiwan International Workers Association,台灣國際勞工協會) pointed out five major problems in Taiwan's foreign labor policy, including the limit imposed on working duration, the broker system, the inapplicability of Labor Standards Law (勞基法) on migrant workers, deprivation of rights to form labor unions and choose their employers. Wu said the discriminating policies have justified the exploitation of migrant workers, and the NGOs have
to unite and ask for changes in the policy.
In 2005, migrant workers for Kaohsiung's MRT system rioted against slavery, which case exposed the inadequacy of migrant labor policies. However, the case only resulted in political quarrels, bringing hardly any change on policies.
Brokers, of course, become the beneficiaries. Before 2001, the commission of introducing migrant workers depended solely on demand and supply, when brokers knew how desperate southeastern Asians were to go to richer countries to make a living, therefore demanding a sky-high commission. In most cases, during the three years the migrant worker is allowed to stay in Taiwan, they spent their first two years working to pay off the commission. Because the workers in debt have no
freedom to choose their employers, they either put up with unfair treatment, or become "runaway workers," who often take the blame for rising criminal activities.
On November 9, 2001, under the pressure of labor NGOs, the CLA finally announced a regulation, prohibiting the brokers from getting "commission;" instead, they can only ask for "service charges," which is no more than $1800 NT per month during the first year, $1700 per month during the second year, and $1500 during the third.
However, Taiwanese brokers have teamed up with brokers in the workers' home countries, cheating the migrant labors into signing an enormous loan contract, so the brokers on both sides can share the commission in the dark.
Though the CLA knows about it, there is nothing they can do. For one thing, the broker system enables the officials and employers to easily manage and control the workers. The government wants to get cheap labor on one hand, but doesn't want the migrant labors to establish their own job seeking networks on the other hand. For another thing, the brokers are connected to huge amount of interests, like the broker company for Kaohsiung MRT who hooked up with the secretary of presidential office.
Through years of fighting, the CLA finally got their hands on the ''direct employment'' policy suggested by the labor NGOs. Currently it is applicable only on employers who have already hired household helpers and have demand for re-employment after a three-year contract, and the CLA has said the policy would be extended to first-time migrant workers and factory workers later only if the first stage goes well. However, since the brokers' interests have been tarnished, they gathered on Jan 28, 2008 to protest by the CLA.
Mr. Ou, former chairperson of Taipei Employment Service Institute Association (台北市就業服務公會) said the protest of the brokers was not targeted toward the direct employment policy, because all the other countries are adopting both broker system and direct employment.
According to Ou, the brokers are angered because the procedures required in direct employment are much simpler than the brokers, who are asked to provide more documents. The brokers are protesting against the government's intention to take profits away from the people who make a living as brokers.
But, Wu Jing-Ru thinks that service offered by the government should of course be better. What's more, the employment procedures of blue-collar labors are still much more complicated than those of white-collar ones, which Wu considers to be class discrimination.
Meanwhile, this is why brokers manage to find profits from the complexity of the procedures.
That is to say, though the employment of some of the migrant workers have been made easier, the brokers can still play around with the regulations; some of them are already trying to convince the employers that direct employment still incorporates many procedures, which they can help simplify with extra charges, and the migrant workers will still be the victims.
Wu also thinks that, apart from the realization of direct employment, there are still many things the CLA should do. Not until the CLA examines its migrant worker policies as a whole regardless of pressure from the brokers, the situation of labors will never be better off. - http://www.newscham.net
* People's Media Chamsaesang starts exchanges with Coolloud, a progressive media in Taiwan. You can visit coolloud at http://www.coolloud.org.tw
"Direct employment" is a policy that labor NGOs have demanded for years. Taiwan has been using migrant workers for 18 years, for as long its society somehow has held discrimination against them, regarding them as highly replaceable workforces. Foreign labor policy is one of the major exploiters of the migrant workers.
Wu Jing-Ru (吳靜如), Secretary General of TIWA (Taiwan International Workers Association,台灣國際勞工協會) pointed out five major problems in Taiwan's foreign labor policy, including the limit imposed on working duration, the broker system, the inapplicability of Labor Standards Law (勞基法) on migrant workers, deprivation of rights to form labor unions and choose their employers. Wu said the discriminating policies have justified the exploitation of migrant workers, and the NGOs have
to unite and ask for changes in the policy.
In 2005, migrant workers for Kaohsiung's MRT system rioted against slavery, which case exposed the inadequacy of migrant labor policies. However, the case only resulted in political quarrels, bringing hardly any change on policies.
Brokers, of course, become the beneficiaries. Before 2001, the commission of introducing migrant workers depended solely on demand and supply, when brokers knew how desperate southeastern Asians were to go to richer countries to make a living, therefore demanding a sky-high commission. In most cases, during the three years the migrant worker is allowed to stay in Taiwan, they spent their first two years working to pay off the commission. Because the workers in debt have no
freedom to choose their employers, they either put up with unfair treatment, or become "runaway workers," who often take the blame for rising criminal activities.
On November 9, 2001, under the pressure of labor NGOs, the CLA finally announced a regulation, prohibiting the brokers from getting "commission;" instead, they can only ask for "service charges," which is no more than $1800 NT per month during the first year, $1700 per month during the second year, and $1500 during the third.
However, Taiwanese brokers have teamed up with brokers in the workers' home countries, cheating the migrant labors into signing an enormous loan contract, so the brokers on both sides can share the commission in the dark.
Though the CLA knows about it, there is nothing they can do. For one thing, the broker system enables the officials and employers to easily manage and control the workers. The government wants to get cheap labor on one hand, but doesn't want the migrant labors to establish their own job seeking networks on the other hand. For another thing, the brokers are connected to huge amount of interests, like the broker company for Kaohsiung MRT who hooked up with the secretary of presidential office.
Through years of fighting, the CLA finally got their hands on the ''direct employment'' policy suggested by the labor NGOs. Currently it is applicable only on employers who have already hired household helpers and have demand for re-employment after a three-year contract, and the CLA has said the policy would be extended to first-time migrant workers and factory workers later only if the first stage goes well. However, since the brokers' interests have been tarnished, they gathered on Jan 28, 2008 to protest by the CLA.
Mr. Ou, former chairperson of Taipei Employment Service Institute Association (台北市就業服務公會) said the protest of the brokers was not targeted toward the direct employment policy, because all the other countries are adopting both broker system and direct employment.
According to Ou, the brokers are angered because the procedures required in direct employment are much simpler than the brokers, who are asked to provide more documents. The brokers are protesting against the government's intention to take profits away from the people who make a living as brokers.
But, Wu Jing-Ru thinks that service offered by the government should of course be better. What's more, the employment procedures of blue-collar labors are still much more complicated than those of white-collar ones, which Wu considers to be class discrimination.
Meanwhile, this is why brokers manage to find profits from the complexity of the procedures.
That is to say, though the employment of some of the migrant workers have been made easier, the brokers can still play around with the regulations; some of them are already trying to convince the employers that direct employment still incorporates many procedures, which they can help simplify with extra charges, and the migrant workers will still be the victims.
Wu also thinks that, apart from the realization of direct employment, there are still many things the CLA should do. Not until the CLA examines its migrant worker policies as a whole regardless of pressure from the brokers, the situation of labors will never be better off. - http://www.newscham.net
* People's Media Chamsaesang starts exchanges with Coolloud, a progressive media in Taiwan. You can visit coolloud at http://www.coolloud.org.tw
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
30,000 jobs await Pinoy workers in Taiwan
May 03, 2010 -- MANILA, Philippines - At least 30,000 jobs still await Filipino workers in Taiwan, local recruiters reported yesterday.
Jackson Gan, Pilipino Manpower Association of Taiwan Inc. (PILMAT) president, said factories in Taiwan are still in dire need of Filipinos and other foreign workers.
“Companies in Taiwan continue to hire workers and we have thousands of job orders that are yet to be filled up until this time,” Gan said.
He said Taiwan has bounced back from last year’s financial crisis and is hiring more workers than in past years.
However, Gan said local recruiters are having difficulty recruiting skilled workers to fill up the vacancies because of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary-general’s warning that the forging of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and China would adversely affect the employment of OFWs.
Gan stressed that NEDA’s fear is baseless since Taiwanese employers still prefer Filipinos compared to other workers from other countries.
He said Taiwan hires an average of 40,000 Filipino workers, including factory workers and caregivers annually.
“Although Taiwan companies hire Vietnamese and Indonesians, OFWs still have the advantage because they can speak the English language unlike other nationalities,” he said.
Gan emphasized that Taiwanese electronics manufacturing companies are not warm to the idea of hiring Chinese mainlanders.
“NEDA is sounding an alarm without basis that could jeopardize the country’s economic stability. Its warning that thousands of OFWs may lose jobs is far-fetched,” he stressed.
While the investment climate in China is now more liberal, Gan said there is little indication that the electronic manufacturing sector will transfer to China due to national security concerns.
He said the electronics sector is not among the 99 industries and business lines that Taiwan would like to liberalize. - Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)
Jackson Gan, Pilipino Manpower Association of Taiwan Inc. (PILMAT) president, said factories in Taiwan are still in dire need of Filipinos and other foreign workers.
“Companies in Taiwan continue to hire workers and we have thousands of job orders that are yet to be filled up until this time,” Gan said.
He said Taiwan has bounced back from last year’s financial crisis and is hiring more workers than in past years.
However, Gan said local recruiters are having difficulty recruiting skilled workers to fill up the vacancies because of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary-general’s warning that the forging of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and China would adversely affect the employment of OFWs.
Gan stressed that NEDA’s fear is baseless since Taiwanese employers still prefer Filipinos compared to other workers from other countries.
He said Taiwan hires an average of 40,000 Filipino workers, including factory workers and caregivers annually.
“Although Taiwan companies hire Vietnamese and Indonesians, OFWs still have the advantage because they can speak the English language unlike other nationalities,” he said.
Gan emphasized that Taiwanese electronics manufacturing companies are not warm to the idea of hiring Chinese mainlanders.
“NEDA is sounding an alarm without basis that could jeopardize the country’s economic stability. Its warning that thousands of OFWs may lose jobs is far-fetched,” he stressed.
While the investment climate in China is now more liberal, Gan said there is little indication that the electronic manufacturing sector will transfer to China due to national security concerns.
He said the electronics sector is not among the 99 industries and business lines that Taiwan would like to liberalize. - Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)
Taiwan’s caregivers and domestic workers need a day off
March 12, 2010 -- For the occasion of Women’s Day, Caritas Taiwan participated in the rally organized by Migrant Empowerment Network in Taiwan in front of Executive Yuan on March 5, 2010. The NGOs have been lobbying the concerns of domestic workers and caregivers who are mostly women, to be included in the Labor Standards Law.
In the situation of Taiwan, caregivers who are also considered as domestic workers are working for as much as 12.5 hours a day and they neither received overtime pay nor avail of one day off per week because employers do not allow them. Thus, they are vulnerable to stress and some recourse to running-away from their employers and become irregular or undocumented.
For several years, the NGOs that are serving migrant workers have been lobbying for the revision of the Household Service Act which governs the domestic workers.
The basic needs of the workers should not be denied nor regarded as merely public responsibility. It should be included in the Labor Standards Law to protect the rights of the migrant workers.
According to the statistics of the Bureau of Employment and Vocation Training, Taiwan has a total number of 353,805 migrant workers as of January 2010, with Indonesians as the largest in number followed by Vietnamese, Filipinos and Thai.
For several years now, Justice and Peace and Caritas Taiwan has been serving Filipino, Indonesian, and Thai migrant workers. - Caritas Taiwan
In the situation of Taiwan, caregivers who are also considered as domestic workers are working for as much as 12.5 hours a day and they neither received overtime pay nor avail of one day off per week because employers do not allow them. Thus, they are vulnerable to stress and some recourse to running-away from their employers and become irregular or undocumented.
For several years, the NGOs that are serving migrant workers have been lobbying for the revision of the Household Service Act which governs the domestic workers.
The basic needs of the workers should not be denied nor regarded as merely public responsibility. It should be included in the Labor Standards Law to protect the rights of the migrant workers.
According to the statistics of the Bureau of Employment and Vocation Training, Taiwan has a total number of 353,805 migrant workers as of January 2010, with Indonesians as the largest in number followed by Vietnamese, Filipinos and Thai.
For several years now, Justice and Peace and Caritas Taiwan has been serving Filipino, Indonesian, and Thai migrant workers. - Caritas Taiwan
Monday, November 15, 2010
OFW families may now collect suicide insurance
November 14, 2010 - Families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who commit suicide are now entitled to insurance benefits, insurance companies said this weekend.
The provision for suicides has been included in the compulsory insurance policy recently implemented by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in line with Republic Act 10022, which requires all recruitment agencies to provide workers with insurance coverage from government-accredited insurers.
Eduardo Atayde, president of the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency Inc. (PAMI), pointed out that “most health insurance companies will not cover injuries that are self-inflicted, including suicide."
PAMI’s coverage will now include suicide victims, even in cases when “someone survives a suicide attempt but sustains injuries that are permanent or that require long-term care… They are also entitled to benefits like hospital bills, rehabilitation costs, doctor’s bills, home care attendants and all other potential medical necessities," Atayde said.
Suicide insurance is added to other items already included in the comprehensive coverage required for each OFW by RA 10022: $15,000 in case of accidental death, $10,000 in case of natural death, and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement along with repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims arising from the employer’s liability, compassionate visit, medical evacuation, and medical repatriation.
Other companies licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission (IC), such as the Philippine Charter Insurance Corp. of Metro Bank Group and United Cocolife Assurance Corp., said they are ready to provide OFWs with the maximum insurance protection the industry could offer, adding that they could facilitate the issuance of insurance policies even for those residing in the provinces.
However, the POEA’s mandatory insurance policy has come under fire after some 100 employers in Hong Kong reportedly suspended the hiring of Filipino domestic helpers. The employers said the new policy is unfair as Hong Kong labor laws already require them to secure insurance coverage for foreign workers.
Other groups have argued that OFWs will eventually end up shouldering the insurance cost as there are no regulations that bind employers to honor the Philippine government's policies on payment of OFWs' placement, recruitment, and other fees. (See: Recruiter: OFWs will end up paying for ‘no cost’ insurance premium.)
POEA argued that it has no choice but to implement the mandatory insurance policy for OFWs because it is the law with the passage of RA 10022.
“The POEA is now under obligation to implement the provision on mandatory insurance cover for agency-hired OFWs… Being guided by the mandate of law, I believe POEA does not have the authority or discretion to deviate from it," said POEA administrator Jennifer Jardin-Manalili in a statement. — With Larissa Mae Suarez/VS, GMANews.TV
The provision for suicides has been included in the compulsory insurance policy recently implemented by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in line with Republic Act 10022, which requires all recruitment agencies to provide workers with insurance coverage from government-accredited insurers.
Eduardo Atayde, president of the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency Inc. (PAMI), pointed out that “most health insurance companies will not cover injuries that are self-inflicted, including suicide."
PAMI’s coverage will now include suicide victims, even in cases when “someone survives a suicide attempt but sustains injuries that are permanent or that require long-term care… They are also entitled to benefits like hospital bills, rehabilitation costs, doctor’s bills, home care attendants and all other potential medical necessities," Atayde said.
Suicide insurance is added to other items already included in the comprehensive coverage required for each OFW by RA 10022: $15,000 in case of accidental death, $10,000 in case of natural death, and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement along with repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims arising from the employer’s liability, compassionate visit, medical evacuation, and medical repatriation.
Other companies licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission (IC), such as the Philippine Charter Insurance Corp. of Metro Bank Group and United Cocolife Assurance Corp., said they are ready to provide OFWs with the maximum insurance protection the industry could offer, adding that they could facilitate the issuance of insurance policies even for those residing in the provinces.
However, the POEA’s mandatory insurance policy has come under fire after some 100 employers in Hong Kong reportedly suspended the hiring of Filipino domestic helpers. The employers said the new policy is unfair as Hong Kong labor laws already require them to secure insurance coverage for foreign workers.
Other groups have argued that OFWs will eventually end up shouldering the insurance cost as there are no regulations that bind employers to honor the Philippine government's policies on payment of OFWs' placement, recruitment, and other fees. (See: Recruiter: OFWs will end up paying for ‘no cost’ insurance premium.)
POEA argued that it has no choice but to implement the mandatory insurance policy for OFWs because it is the law with the passage of RA 10022.
“The POEA is now under obligation to implement the provision on mandatory insurance cover for agency-hired OFWs… Being guided by the mandate of law, I believe POEA does not have the authority or discretion to deviate from it," said POEA administrator Jennifer Jardin-Manalili in a statement. — With Larissa Mae Suarez/VS, GMANews.TV
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Mandatory insurance imperils HK hiring of Pinoy helpers
11 Nov 2010 -- Hong Kong residents have reportedly canceled contracts for Filipino domestic workers, following the Philippine government’s implementation of a mandatory insurance coverage for these workers.
Employers, recruiters and workers themselves have scored the new policy, which took effect on Monday. They described the policy as unfair and redundant, as existing labor laws in Hong Kong already require employers to secure insurance policies for foreign domestic workers.
Reports by Hong Kong-based news sites The Standard and the South China Morning Post said a local organization claimed that over 100 residents have suspended hiring Filipino helpers due to the mandatory insurance.
The compulsory insurance coverage requires employers or recruiters to secure a two-year policy coverage for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amounting to a fixed rate of US$144, on top of the premiums. (See: DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs)
The policy includes benefits of $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
A certificate of cover provided by an insurance company that is licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission is now required before the issuance of overseas employment certificate or exit clearance of agency-hired overseas workers.
A recent advisory from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the accredited insurance providers are Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp., Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and United Coconut Planters’ Life Assurance Corp.
HK laws already require insurance for foreign workers
The report by The Standard, however, said employers and recruiters are not happy as some 280,000 households shell out about HK$900 every two years for foreign domestic workers’ insurance as mandated by the region’s laws.
“(Foreign domestic workers) are adequately protected by the insurance policies that employers have bought on behalf of their workers," said Joseph Law, chairman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association as quoted in the report.
He added that many employers have voluntarily purchased comprehensive insurance of about HK$800 to HK$1,000 a year for their workers’ medical expenses, on top of the compulsory insurance.
Hong Kong’s Liberal Party on Tuesday staged a rally before the Philippine Consulate General there to protest the new policy and to call on the Hong Kong government to negotiate with Philippine authorities to revoke the “unnecessary" law.
A separate report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) likewise also said a recruitment agency has temporarily stopped processing new workers until questions about the new policy are clarified.
"We have stopped letting new workers come to Hong Kong. The halt will continue until we know the specifics of the new policy," said Technic Employment Service Centre managing director Teresa Liu Tsui-lan as quoted in the report.
HK workers also oppose new policy
In light of this, a Hong Kong-based Filipino workers’ organization has expressed concerns that the mandatory insurance will result in job loss or additional fees for migrant workers, and has called on the Philippine government to exempt them from the new policy.
“We don’t feel protected. We are actually anxious that this new policy for mandatory insurance will create job loss or possible additional financial burden to us Filipino migrants in Hong Kong. For OFWs in HK, this new insurance is thrice redundant and an exemption should be made for us," said Eman Villanueva, secretary general of the United Filipino in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK), in a statement.
Villanueva said OFWs were not consulted prior to the implementation of the new policy, adding that employers and agencies may eventually pass on to OFWs the burden of paying for the insurance coverage.
The POEA earlier issued a reminder that licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers should bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.
Villanueva, however, said: “There are many fees that are supposed to be paid for by employers but are in reality carried by OFWs such as the contract authentication fee and the OWWA fee. There is no existing concrete mechanism to ensure that these fees are not passed on to OFWs."
He cited the placement fee that is supposedly illegal but is still being charged by recruitment agencies through various modus operandi. He claimed that both the POEA and the Labor department have been unable to stop this illegal practice.
“This new rule should be reviewed. Genuine protection should not cost us our jobs or more fees for us," Villanueva said.
The Labor department’s communications head Nicon Fameronag meanwhile maintained in the SCMP report that the insurance is intended to protect OFWs.
"This is not a levy but a new law that gives added protection for Filipino overseas workers," Fameronag said as quoted in the report.
The guidelines for the new policy were published in Hong Kong newspapers on September 17, he added.
POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili could not be reached for comment as of posting time.
Records from the POEA show that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, was the third top destination of OFWs in 2009, with 100,142 Filipino workers deployed there last year. Of this figure, about 25,000 are domestic helpers.
Currently, there are about 140,000 Filipino domestic helpers in the region. It is also among the top countries in terms of OFW remittances, which amounted to over US$339 million in 2009.— JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV
Employers, recruiters and workers themselves have scored the new policy, which took effect on Monday. They described the policy as unfair and redundant, as existing labor laws in Hong Kong already require employers to secure insurance policies for foreign domestic workers.
Reports by Hong Kong-based news sites The Standard and the South China Morning Post said a local organization claimed that over 100 residents have suspended hiring Filipino helpers due to the mandatory insurance.
The compulsory insurance coverage requires employers or recruiters to secure a two-year policy coverage for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amounting to a fixed rate of US$144, on top of the premiums. (See: DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs)
The policy includes benefits of $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
A certificate of cover provided by an insurance company that is licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission is now required before the issuance of overseas employment certificate or exit clearance of agency-hired overseas workers.
A recent advisory from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the accredited insurance providers are Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp., Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and United Coconut Planters’ Life Assurance Corp.
HK laws already require insurance for foreign workers
The report by The Standard, however, said employers and recruiters are not happy as some 280,000 households shell out about HK$900 every two years for foreign domestic workers’ insurance as mandated by the region’s laws.
“(Foreign domestic workers) are adequately protected by the insurance policies that employers have bought on behalf of their workers," said Joseph Law, chairman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association as quoted in the report.
He added that many employers have voluntarily purchased comprehensive insurance of about HK$800 to HK$1,000 a year for their workers’ medical expenses, on top of the compulsory insurance.
Hong Kong’s Liberal Party on Tuesday staged a rally before the Philippine Consulate General there to protest the new policy and to call on the Hong Kong government to negotiate with Philippine authorities to revoke the “unnecessary" law.
A separate report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) likewise also said a recruitment agency has temporarily stopped processing new workers until questions about the new policy are clarified.
"We have stopped letting new workers come to Hong Kong. The halt will continue until we know the specifics of the new policy," said Technic Employment Service Centre managing director Teresa Liu Tsui-lan as quoted in the report.
HK workers also oppose new policy
In light of this, a Hong Kong-based Filipino workers’ organization has expressed concerns that the mandatory insurance will result in job loss or additional fees for migrant workers, and has called on the Philippine government to exempt them from the new policy.
“We don’t feel protected. We are actually anxious that this new policy for mandatory insurance will create job loss or possible additional financial burden to us Filipino migrants in Hong Kong. For OFWs in HK, this new insurance is thrice redundant and an exemption should be made for us," said Eman Villanueva, secretary general of the United Filipino in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK), in a statement.
Villanueva said OFWs were not consulted prior to the implementation of the new policy, adding that employers and agencies may eventually pass on to OFWs the burden of paying for the insurance coverage.
The POEA earlier issued a reminder that licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers should bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.
Villanueva, however, said: “There are many fees that are supposed to be paid for by employers but are in reality carried by OFWs such as the contract authentication fee and the OWWA fee. There is no existing concrete mechanism to ensure that these fees are not passed on to OFWs."
He cited the placement fee that is supposedly illegal but is still being charged by recruitment agencies through various modus operandi. He claimed that both the POEA and the Labor department have been unable to stop this illegal practice.
“This new rule should be reviewed. Genuine protection should not cost us our jobs or more fees for us," Villanueva said.
The Labor department’s communications head Nicon Fameronag meanwhile maintained in the SCMP report that the insurance is intended to protect OFWs.
"This is not a levy but a new law that gives added protection for Filipino overseas workers," Fameronag said as quoted in the report.
The guidelines for the new policy were published in Hong Kong newspapers on September 17, he added.
POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili could not be reached for comment as of posting time.
Records from the POEA show that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, was the third top destination of OFWs in 2009, with 100,142 Filipino workers deployed there last year. Of this figure, about 25,000 are domestic helpers.
Currently, there are about 140,000 Filipino domestic helpers in the region. It is also among the top countries in terms of OFW remittances, which amounted to over US$339 million in 2009.— JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV
DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs
20 Oct 2010 -- Labor officials sternly reminded recruitment firms Wednesday against passing on to prospective overseas Filipino workers the cost of their mandatory insurance coverage.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is already monitoring potential violators.
"The insurance coverage shall be effective for the duration of the worker’s employment contract and shall at least cover the benefits provided for by the Omnibus Rules and Regulations Implementing Republic Act 8042 as amended by R.A. 10022," DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in an article posted on the DOLE website.
She added POEA under Administrator Jennifer Manalili has vowed to strictly monitor agencies trying to circumvent the law.
Under Republic Act 10022, licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers shall bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.
However, insurance coverage is optional for name hires, rehires (balik-manggagawa or vacationing workers) as well as workers hired through government-to-government arrangement.
These workers may request their foreign employers to pay the cost of insurance or they themselves may pay the premium.
Republic Act 10022 requires recruitment agencies to shoulder the following insurance costs:
The insurance coverage guidelines were signed on September 8 and published in a newspaper on September 17.
"Hence, the insurance policy has become a mandatory requirement for processing of OFW contracts and overseas employment certificates (OECs)," the DOLE said.
Baldoz said a certificate of cover (COC) provided by an insurance firm licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission (IC0), is now required before the issuance of OECs or exit clearance of agency-hired OFWs.
She said a certificate of entry or other proofs of insurance coverage from the manning agency shall be accepted for seafarers if the vessel is covered by protection and indemnity.
The coverage must also conform to POEA rules and regulations and the POEA Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Overseas Employment of Filipino Seafarers on Board Ocean-Going Ships. – JERRIE ABELLA, GMANews.TV
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is already monitoring potential violators.
"The insurance coverage shall be effective for the duration of the worker’s employment contract and shall at least cover the benefits provided for by the Omnibus Rules and Regulations Implementing Republic Act 8042 as amended by R.A. 10022," DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in an article posted on the DOLE website.
She added POEA under Administrator Jennifer Manalili has vowed to strictly monitor agencies trying to circumvent the law.
Under Republic Act 10022, licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers shall bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.
However, insurance coverage is optional for name hires, rehires (balik-manggagawa or vacationing workers) as well as workers hired through government-to-government arrangement.
These workers may request their foreign employers to pay the cost of insurance or they themselves may pay the premium.
Republic Act 10022 requires recruitment agencies to shoulder the following insurance costs:
- the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration life insurance of P100,000 for natural death;
- P200,000 for accidental death;
- P100,000 for total permanent disability;
- P50,000 burial benefits;
- $15,000 in case of accidental death;
- $10,000 in case of natural death; and
- $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
The insurance coverage guidelines were signed on September 8 and published in a newspaper on September 17.
"Hence, the insurance policy has become a mandatory requirement for processing of OFW contracts and overseas employment certificates (OECs)," the DOLE said.
Baldoz said a certificate of cover (COC) provided by an insurance firm licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission (IC0), is now required before the issuance of OECs or exit clearance of agency-hired OFWs.
She said a certificate of entry or other proofs of insurance coverage from the manning agency shall be accepted for seafarers if the vessel is covered by protection and indemnity.
The coverage must also conform to POEA rules and regulations and the POEA Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Overseas Employment of Filipino Seafarers on Board Ocean-Going Ships. – JERRIE ABELLA, GMANews.TV
Recruiter: OFWs will end up paying for 'no cost' insurance premium
11 Nov 2010 -- Overseas Filipino workers bound for Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brunei, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore will eventually shoulder the compulsory insurance premium despite government warnings against passing on the cost to OFWs.
"OFWs will eventually pay for the insurance just as they, in reality, pay for the placement costs ranging P50-150,000 – including plane tickets, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) fees, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Membership (OWWA) fee, visas, foreign brokers and local placement costs, among others," recruitment specialist and former OFW Lito Soriano said.
Soriano claimed that for over three decades, the practice is that OFWs in Asian countries shoulder all the expenses for their employment abroad, even if the Labor Department and related government agencies say otherwise.
"So, the US$72-100 per annum for the compulsory insurance mandated by the new Migrant Workers Act RA 10022, is just another cost on the shoulders of the OFW," he added.
He said, the Philippine Government must realize that policies regarding "zero" placement fees for various destinations abroad are not followed in Asian countries for the simple reason that 95 percent of employers in these countries, as well as their local recruitment brokers, are not regulated.
The policies the Philippine government has crafted would not be honored in most of these countries, he added.
Moreover, he said, the government has not initiated bilateral OFW protection agreements to require foreign employers in Asian countries to pay for the recruitment costs including the exorbitant foreign brokers fees that are usually the major component of the total placement cost.
Soriano lamented most OFWs and the general public are not aware of this reality in the recruitment process.
Compulsory insurance
The insurance premium must correspond to the length of the employment contract and must be paid – "at no cost to the worker" – prior to the release of their POEA overseas employment certificate. [See: Section 23 of RA 10022]
With most OFWs on two year contracts, the true upfront cost is between P6,500 to P8,800, Soriano said.
The POEA said insurance coverage requires employers or recruiters to secure a two-year policy coverage for OFWs amounting to a fixed rate of US$144, on top of the premiums. (See: DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs)
The policy includes benefits of $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
A certificate of cover provided by an insurance company that is licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission is now required before the issuance of overseas employment certificate or exit clearance of agency-hired overseas workers.
A recent advisory from POEA said the accredited insurance providers are Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp., Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and United Coconut Planters’ Life Assurance Corp.
On the other hand, Soriano added that, "already the coverage is going to be extended in new House Bill 3308 seeking to insure all OFWs as they renew their contracts."
Soriano wondered who is going to pay as OFWs who renew their contracts don’t go through recruitment agencies, but have to use POEA as their agency.
"So will the taxpayer pay the bill or will the government pass it on to OFWs?" he said.
The "no cost to OFW insurance premium" is not realistic, he stressed, adding that even under the POEA-brokered Employment Permit System (EPS) for South Korea, the Filipino worker had to pay dearly.
Citing experiences in the EPS, Soriano said OFWs under the program paid all the costs, including their OWWA membership, plane tickets to Korea, visa fees at the Korean Embassy, POEA fees, medical examinations and training expenses.
"The POEA is the exclusive recruitment agency under the EPS program, yet the OFW has to shoulder everything."
According to him, a Filipino worker deployed under the program has to pay P20,000 plus, with the additional costs of language tuition, review and the actual KLT (Korean Language Test) in order to qualify for EPS. And when they are on-site, they have to take out “Return and Casualty insurances" and pay for it through salary deductions at 8.3 percent monthly!
Canceled contracts
Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents have reportedly canceled contracts for Filipino domestic workers, after the Philippine government’s implementation of a mandatory insurance coverage for this type of workers.
Employers, recruiters and workers have scored the new policy, which took effect last Monday, describing it as as unfair and redundant because existing labor laws in Hong Kong already require employers to secure insurance policies for foreign domestic workers. [See story: Mandatory insurance imperils HK hiring of Pinoy helpers]
Reports by Hong Kong-based news sites The Standard and the South China Morning Post said a local organization claimed that over 100 residents have suspended hiring Filipino helpers due to the mandatory insurance. — Fernando de la Cruz/LBG, GMANews.TV
"OFWs will eventually pay for the insurance just as they, in reality, pay for the placement costs ranging P50-150,000 – including plane tickets, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) fees, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Membership (OWWA) fee, visas, foreign brokers and local placement costs, among others," recruitment specialist and former OFW Lito Soriano said.
Soriano claimed that for over three decades, the practice is that OFWs in Asian countries shoulder all the expenses for their employment abroad, even if the Labor Department and related government agencies say otherwise.
"So, the US$72-100 per annum for the compulsory insurance mandated by the new Migrant Workers Act RA 10022, is just another cost on the shoulders of the OFW," he added.
He said, the Philippine Government must realize that policies regarding "zero" placement fees for various destinations abroad are not followed in Asian countries for the simple reason that 95 percent of employers in these countries, as well as their local recruitment brokers, are not regulated.
The policies the Philippine government has crafted would not be honored in most of these countries, he added.
Moreover, he said, the government has not initiated bilateral OFW protection agreements to require foreign employers in Asian countries to pay for the recruitment costs including the exorbitant foreign brokers fees that are usually the major component of the total placement cost.
Soriano lamented most OFWs and the general public are not aware of this reality in the recruitment process.
Compulsory insurance
The insurance premium must correspond to the length of the employment contract and must be paid – "at no cost to the worker" – prior to the release of their POEA overseas employment certificate. [See: Section 23 of RA 10022]
With most OFWs on two year contracts, the true upfront cost is between P6,500 to P8,800, Soriano said.
The POEA said insurance coverage requires employers or recruiters to secure a two-year policy coverage for OFWs amounting to a fixed rate of US$144, on top of the premiums. (See: DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs)
The policy includes benefits of $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; and $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation.
A certificate of cover provided by an insurance company that is licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission is now required before the issuance of overseas employment certificate or exit clearance of agency-hired overseas workers.
A recent advisory from POEA said the accredited insurance providers are Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp., Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., and United Coconut Planters’ Life Assurance Corp.
On the other hand, Soriano added that, "already the coverage is going to be extended in new House Bill 3308 seeking to insure all OFWs as they renew their contracts."
Soriano wondered who is going to pay as OFWs who renew their contracts don’t go through recruitment agencies, but have to use POEA as their agency.
"So will the taxpayer pay the bill or will the government pass it on to OFWs?" he said.
The "no cost to OFW insurance premium" is not realistic, he stressed, adding that even under the POEA-brokered Employment Permit System (EPS) for South Korea, the Filipino worker had to pay dearly.
Citing experiences in the EPS, Soriano said OFWs under the program paid all the costs, including their OWWA membership, plane tickets to Korea, visa fees at the Korean Embassy, POEA fees, medical examinations and training expenses.
"The POEA is the exclusive recruitment agency under the EPS program, yet the OFW has to shoulder everything."
According to him, a Filipino worker deployed under the program has to pay P20,000 plus, with the additional costs of language tuition, review and the actual KLT (Korean Language Test) in order to qualify for EPS. And when they are on-site, they have to take out “Return and Casualty insurances" and pay for it through salary deductions at 8.3 percent monthly!
Canceled contracts
Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents have reportedly canceled contracts for Filipino domestic workers, after the Philippine government’s implementation of a mandatory insurance coverage for this type of workers.
Employers, recruiters and workers have scored the new policy, which took effect last Monday, describing it as as unfair and redundant because existing labor laws in Hong Kong already require employers to secure insurance policies for foreign domestic workers. [See story: Mandatory insurance imperils HK hiring of Pinoy helpers]
Reports by Hong Kong-based news sites The Standard and the South China Morning Post said a local organization claimed that over 100 residents have suspended hiring Filipino helpers due to the mandatory insurance. — Fernando de la Cruz/LBG, GMANews.TV
Gov’t says to beef up OFW centers abroad
MANILA – The Philippines’s labor department reiterated its policy to reinforce centers for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) abroad by deploying more employees overseas.
This was one of the policy pronouncements inscribed in the Department of Labor and Employment document for the first hundred days of President Benigno Aquino III that ended October 8.
“Work with the DFA to transform Philippine embassies, consular offices and Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) into centers of care and service for overseas workers by assigning more foreign service officers to post where there are many OFWs and train them in the needs of the communities they serve,” the DOLE said in its 22-point Platform and Policy Pronouncements on Labor and Employment.
The pronouncements came after the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released a report recommending that government provide more resources to Filipino Workers Resource Centers (FWRCs) so that services may be expanded.
The report titled “Migrant Resource Centers: An Initial Assessment” said that apart from resources, government should also make sure FWRCs are used by as many potential clients and that migrants’ savings and skills are appropriately used inside these centers.
An FWRC is mandated by section 19 of Philippine Republic Act 8042 (or the 1995 Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act) to be set up in any country where there are more than 20,000 OFWs.
FWRCs were among the earliest formed migrant resource centers (MRCs) worldwide, next to the Australia’s Spectrum MRC, which was formed in 1976.
Currently, there are 21 FWRCs found in 18 countries, with three of them in OFW-rich Saudi Arabia and two in the United Arab Emirates –another OFW beehive in the Middle East region.
IOM assessed some 13 MRCs, whether set up in the origin country of migrants and/or in host countries, including those from Albania, Australia, Colombia, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, Mali, Portugal, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan.
The IOM report, written by Paul Tacon and Elizabeth Warn, defines MRCs as “physical structures which provide services directly to migrants to facilitate and promote their recourse to legal, voluntary, orderly and protected migration.”
Praise
Through the report, the IOM heaped praise on the Philippine government’s FWRCs for its services aimed at empowering migrant workers for development, and especially for protecting the rights of migrant workers.
The international government body also lauded FWRCs for offering remittance-related services such as information on remittances and their transfer costs, partnerships to facilitate remittance transfers, and information on investment options.
The FWRCs were also noted to be offering employment-related assistance such as job-matching services, and for promoting the involvement of migrants in so-called “migration-for-development” projects such as donations to the origin country by hometown associations.
In terms of migrant protection, the IOM also gave kudos to FWRCs for accessibility of services, “providing 24-7 services to migrants in emergency situations, and migrants who must not miss their usual work schedules.”
“FWRCs show particularly good practices in this respect, as they are required to be available to migrants at all times, on public holidays and weekends as well as working days,” the IOM report wrote.
FWRCs were also lauded in the IOM report for their “extensive experience in assisting migrants,” not just in forms such as legal assistance but also including psycho-social counseling and on-site physical and mental health services.
And being a physical structure, an FWRC has sheltered distressed women and men migrant workers such as those who ran away from work, those imprisoned in private employers’ homes or on work sites, those abused migrant workers, those whose contracts were illegally terminated, those victims of illegal recruitment, and those facing homelessness in the host country.
The Philippine embassy or consulate then assists the repatriation of the sheltered OFWs, while receiving newer OFWs under vulnerable conditions.
FWRCs were also lauded by IOM in terms of providing vital information to the home government on the conditions and issues faced by Filipino workers, thus assisting the Philippine government’s formulation of policies related to OFWs.
Pressures
The IOM evaluated FWRCs only in terms of services empowering migrants for development, services empowering migrants for protection, and set-up and sustainability.
Hence, it failed to give comments on FWRCs’ performance in undertaking a needs-assessment, maintaining contacts with migrant worker-clients, and, networks and partnerships with international groups and host country service providers for migrant workers.
Likewise, the IOM also avoided remarking on the FWRCs in the following criteria: integration of centers into government structures; sustainability for independent centers; and, capacity-building activities that benefit government’s policy formulation activities and non-government organizations’ migrant assistance-related activities.
The resources for these, however, have been a cause of concern and identified earlier by the Philippines’ audit commission.
A 2008 audit report by the Commission on Audit on the government’s overseas workers’ welfare program reveals high ratios between FWRC staff and the total number of OFWs and cases of distressed OFWs whom centers receive and give temporary shelter to.
Citing 2006 data, six staff of the FWRC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are serving an estimated total of 540,000 OFWs (for a ratio of one is to 90,000), while the two FWRC staff in neighboring Saudi Arabia are serving an estimated total of 200,000 OFWs there (for a ratio of one to 240,000).
Based on the number of welfare cases that year, there’s only one staff catering to 6,524 cases at the FWRC in Taipei City, Taiwan. With only two staff in the Taipei FWRC, this would mean each must manage at least 17.9 cases a day.
Their colleagues at the FWRC in Manama, Bahrain, may appear to take it easy at 6.8 cases a day or one staff for 2,489 cases. The Manama FWRC also has two staff.
These staff comes from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which also forks out the funds for the center’s maintenance. Likewise, personnel is also tapped from the embassy or consulate (under the Department of Foreign Affairs), and labor attaches who are under the Labor department’s corps of POLOs.
Promises
This discrepancy in staff against the number of cases reported to the FWRC is being pinned by the Commission on Audit as something to do with standards.
“The wide range of ratios in relation to the number of OFWs and welfare cases received are an indication of the absence of a standard on the number of POLO/OWWA personnel needed to ensure responsive welfare services to OFWs,” the COA report wrote.
In reply, also contained in the same COA report, OWWA officials said the agency’s community reach-out and developmental programs through the FWRCs are “effective medium [sic]” since FWRCs tap the help of Filipino organizations in host countries in delivering welfare services to migrant workers.
As to repatriating OFWs who are sheltered in FWRCs, OWWA officials said an OFW’s length of stay is dependent, in regions such as the Middle East, on the issuance of a document like an exit permit which, in turn, is issued if the OFW’s employer clears the worker of any wrongdoing.
The 100-day paper by the DOLE said that as of 30 July 2010, there were 1,204 wards in the FWRCs; 561 of whom were repatriated using DOLE and OWWA funds, in July and August 2010.
“All ‘repatriation-ready’ OFWs are to be home within one month from the issuance of exit clearance by the host government,” the DOLE paper said.
It added that the labor department and the OWWA “also provided repatriation funds for Filipinos threatened to be expelled from Kandara bridge. POLO Jeddah funded the temporary accommodation at Hajj terminal, filing of deportation documents, and eventual repatriation of overstaying Filipino nationals.
The paper added that 734 OFWs from Jeddah were repatriated from 01 July to 26 September 2010.
To note, the labor department said welfare and protection for OFWs “will remain a government priority that require comprehensive program and budget support during the entire migration cycle from pre-employment, on-site employment and post deployment which includes reintegration.” -
Source URL: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/11/02/10/gov%E2%80%99t-says-beef-ofw-centers-abroad
This was one of the policy pronouncements inscribed in the Department of Labor and Employment document for the first hundred days of President Benigno Aquino III that ended October 8.
“Work with the DFA to transform Philippine embassies, consular offices and Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) into centers of care and service for overseas workers by assigning more foreign service officers to post where there are many OFWs and train them in the needs of the communities they serve,” the DOLE said in its 22-point Platform and Policy Pronouncements on Labor and Employment.
The pronouncements came after the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released a report recommending that government provide more resources to Filipino Workers Resource Centers (FWRCs) so that services may be expanded.
The report titled “Migrant Resource Centers: An Initial Assessment” said that apart from resources, government should also make sure FWRCs are used by as many potential clients and that migrants’ savings and skills are appropriately used inside these centers.
An FWRC is mandated by section 19 of Philippine Republic Act 8042 (or the 1995 Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act) to be set up in any country where there are more than 20,000 OFWs.
FWRCs were among the earliest formed migrant resource centers (MRCs) worldwide, next to the Australia’s Spectrum MRC, which was formed in 1976.
Currently, there are 21 FWRCs found in 18 countries, with three of them in OFW-rich Saudi Arabia and two in the United Arab Emirates –another OFW beehive in the Middle East region.
IOM assessed some 13 MRCs, whether set up in the origin country of migrants and/or in host countries, including those from Albania, Australia, Colombia, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, Mali, Portugal, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan.
The IOM report, written by Paul Tacon and Elizabeth Warn, defines MRCs as “physical structures which provide services directly to migrants to facilitate and promote their recourse to legal, voluntary, orderly and protected migration.”
Praise
Through the report, the IOM heaped praise on the Philippine government’s FWRCs for its services aimed at empowering migrant workers for development, and especially for protecting the rights of migrant workers.
The international government body also lauded FWRCs for offering remittance-related services such as information on remittances and their transfer costs, partnerships to facilitate remittance transfers, and information on investment options.
The FWRCs were also noted to be offering employment-related assistance such as job-matching services, and for promoting the involvement of migrants in so-called “migration-for-development” projects such as donations to the origin country by hometown associations.
In terms of migrant protection, the IOM also gave kudos to FWRCs for accessibility of services, “providing 24-7 services to migrants in emergency situations, and migrants who must not miss their usual work schedules.”
“FWRCs show particularly good practices in this respect, as they are required to be available to migrants at all times, on public holidays and weekends as well as working days,” the IOM report wrote.
FWRCs were also lauded in the IOM report for their “extensive experience in assisting migrants,” not just in forms such as legal assistance but also including psycho-social counseling and on-site physical and mental health services.
And being a physical structure, an FWRC has sheltered distressed women and men migrant workers such as those who ran away from work, those imprisoned in private employers’ homes or on work sites, those abused migrant workers, those whose contracts were illegally terminated, those victims of illegal recruitment, and those facing homelessness in the host country.
The Philippine embassy or consulate then assists the repatriation of the sheltered OFWs, while receiving newer OFWs under vulnerable conditions.
FWRCs were also lauded by IOM in terms of providing vital information to the home government on the conditions and issues faced by Filipino workers, thus assisting the Philippine government’s formulation of policies related to OFWs.
Pressures
The IOM evaluated FWRCs only in terms of services empowering migrants for development, services empowering migrants for protection, and set-up and sustainability.
Hence, it failed to give comments on FWRCs’ performance in undertaking a needs-assessment, maintaining contacts with migrant worker-clients, and, networks and partnerships with international groups and host country service providers for migrant workers.
Likewise, the IOM also avoided remarking on the FWRCs in the following criteria: integration of centers into government structures; sustainability for independent centers; and, capacity-building activities that benefit government’s policy formulation activities and non-government organizations’ migrant assistance-related activities.
The resources for these, however, have been a cause of concern and identified earlier by the Philippines’ audit commission.
A 2008 audit report by the Commission on Audit on the government’s overseas workers’ welfare program reveals high ratios between FWRC staff and the total number of OFWs and cases of distressed OFWs whom centers receive and give temporary shelter to.
Citing 2006 data, six staff of the FWRC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are serving an estimated total of 540,000 OFWs (for a ratio of one is to 90,000), while the two FWRC staff in neighboring Saudi Arabia are serving an estimated total of 200,000 OFWs there (for a ratio of one to 240,000).
Based on the number of welfare cases that year, there’s only one staff catering to 6,524 cases at the FWRC in Taipei City, Taiwan. With only two staff in the Taipei FWRC, this would mean each must manage at least 17.9 cases a day.
Their colleagues at the FWRC in Manama, Bahrain, may appear to take it easy at 6.8 cases a day or one staff for 2,489 cases. The Manama FWRC also has two staff.
These staff comes from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which also forks out the funds for the center’s maintenance. Likewise, personnel is also tapped from the embassy or consulate (under the Department of Foreign Affairs), and labor attaches who are under the Labor department’s corps of POLOs.
Promises
This discrepancy in staff against the number of cases reported to the FWRC is being pinned by the Commission on Audit as something to do with standards.
“The wide range of ratios in relation to the number of OFWs and welfare cases received are an indication of the absence of a standard on the number of POLO/OWWA personnel needed to ensure responsive welfare services to OFWs,” the COA report wrote.
In reply, also contained in the same COA report, OWWA officials said the agency’s community reach-out and developmental programs through the FWRCs are “effective medium [sic]” since FWRCs tap the help of Filipino organizations in host countries in delivering welfare services to migrant workers.
As to repatriating OFWs who are sheltered in FWRCs, OWWA officials said an OFW’s length of stay is dependent, in regions such as the Middle East, on the issuance of a document like an exit permit which, in turn, is issued if the OFW’s employer clears the worker of any wrongdoing.
The 100-day paper by the DOLE said that as of 30 July 2010, there were 1,204 wards in the FWRCs; 561 of whom were repatriated using DOLE and OWWA funds, in July and August 2010.
“All ‘repatriation-ready’ OFWs are to be home within one month from the issuance of exit clearance by the host government,” the DOLE paper said.
It added that the labor department and the OWWA “also provided repatriation funds for Filipinos threatened to be expelled from Kandara bridge. POLO Jeddah funded the temporary accommodation at Hajj terminal, filing of deportation documents, and eventual repatriation of overstaying Filipino nationals.
The paper added that 734 OFWs from Jeddah were repatriated from 01 July to 26 September 2010.
To note, the labor department said welfare and protection for OFWs “will remain a government priority that require comprehensive program and budget support during the entire migration cycle from pre-employment, on-site employment and post deployment which includes reintegration.” -
By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, OFW Journalism Consortium | 11/02/2010
With reports from Isagani De La PazSource URL: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/11/02/10/gov%E2%80%99t-says-beef-ofw-centers-abroad
More than 1,400 runaway migrant workers detained
CRACKDOWN:As well as the workers, 18 illegal labor brokers and 150 people who had illegally employed foreigners have also been uncovered
6 Nov 2010 -- More than 1,400 runaway migrant workers have been detained during a crackdown over the past month in response to the deaths of illegally employed migrants at a construction site in late September, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
“As of Nov. 3, 1,414 runaway foreign workers had been rounded up since the launch of a massive crackdown on Oct. 1,” Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said. “Absconded migrant workers are encouraged to come forward and to end their days in hiding, which puts them at risk of being mistreated by employers who hire them illegally.”
The National Immigration Agency will help those who give themselves up return to their home countries quickly and safely, he said.
Over the past month, 150 people who had illegally employed foreign workers and 18 illegal labor brokers were also uncovered, Jiang said.
The latest crackdown was launched days after six illegal foreign workers were killed in an accident at a freeway construction site in Nantou County.
According to statistics compiled by the ministry, 6,558 runaway foreign workers, 649 illegal employers and 52 illegal brokers were uncovered in the first nine months of this year.
In one of the latest cases, the Coast Guard Administration’s branch office in southern Taiwan announced the arrest of an illegal immigrant from northern Vietnam in a private house in Taichung on Friday.
The Vietnamese was cited as having said that he wanted to work in Taiwan because there were few jobs in his home country and that wages were very low there.
Many of his Vietnamese compatriots had already come to Taiwan through legal or illegal channels, he said.
A coast guard official who did not want to be named said an increasing number of illegal immigrants from Vietnam had been detained in recent years. Many of them used to work in the Vietnamese military. - Staff Writer, with CNA, http://www.taipeitimes.com
Taiwanese employers threaten to stop hiring OFWs
MANILA, Philippines – Taiwanese employers are threatening to stop hiring Filipino workers next year to protest the Philippine government’s mandatory insurance regulation.
Jackson Gan, Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (PILMAT) president, said employers from Taiwan have expressed their intention to cancel 50,000 job orders for Filipino workers in 2011.
“Taiwan principals have sent a letter of their opposition to the mandatory insurance coverage with the warning that if our government will insist on implementing the double coverage for Filipino workers to be deployed to Taiwan they will cancel all the 50,000 job orders for 2011 and just get workers from Indonesia or Vietnam,” Gan said.
He said every contract worker in Taiwan is covered by two types of insurance, one for personal and the other is group insurance. Each overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is given a personal insurance coverage worth NT$800,000 equivalent to more than P1.2 million, and at the worksite a group insurance covers all workers at the factory.
“This is definitely more superior to the insurance coverage under the law which only provides $15,000 for accidental death and $10,000 for natural death,” he said.
There are about 100,000 OFWs employed in Taiwan, most of them employed as factory workers or caregivers.
Earlier, employers and Filipino workers in Hong Kong also expressed their opposition to the mandatory insurance coverage, which the Philippine government started implementing last week.
But Philippine labor officials said they are obliged to enforce the requirement since is it provided under the newly amended Migrant Workers Act.
Labor officials further stressed that the mandatory insurance coverage would provide additional protection for OFWs. - Mayen Jaymalin, The Philippine Star, November 14, 2010
Taiwan Considers "Fugitive Slave" Law for Migrant Workers
14 Oct 2010 -- Taiwanese labor groups are outraged by a proposed law which would offer a reward to citizens who catch "runaway" migrant workers and turn them in. The legislation would be a second cousin to the Fugitive Slave Law in the 19th century U.S., which required citizens to return runaway slaves to their owners. Is Taiwan taking its legal system all the way back to the 19th century when people were property?
Taiwan's Council on Labor Affairs (CLA) has been struggling with a problem: migrant workers who travel to Taiwan on employer-specific visas keep running away from their employers. In fact, there are currently over 33,000 migrant workers in Taiwan who have gone MIA since taking a job. So what's the CLA's solution? Turn each one of its citizens into some xenophobic version of Dog the Bounty Hunter by offering cold, hard cash for the capture of a runaway worker. The pay day turns out to be roughly $160 per "fugitive" — not a fortune, but a way for someone struggling to make a living in a downed economy to get a leg up. And if people are hurt in a mob of cash-crazy vigilantes? Well, they're only migrant workers.
Of course, what the CLA or the Taiwanese government hasn't done is ask itself why migrant workers are running away in the first place. Most of them spend serious time and money getting visas to come work in Taiwan and many workers from Southeast Asian countries have families back home relying on that paycheck. Things must be pretty bad to leave a paying job and a place to live in a foreign country where you don't have immigration papers. And for some workers, things are that bad. Southeast Asian women and girls are trafficked into domestic servitude in Taiwan, often beaten and degraded by their employers. And just recently six men were killed at an unsafe work site, which probably hadn't been kept up to code because the men at the site were undocumented. But no one is proposing a law to reward citizens for spotting human trafficking, exploitation, or unsafe working conditions.
And what awaits these runaway workers when spotted by a vigilant public and turned in for reward money? Apparently, they will "be assisted with a passport and provided with the expenses for repatriation." That a really, really polite way of saying they'll be deported but the government will foot the bill for getting them the hell out. No attempt to figure out why these people have fled from their employers, no counseling or aid for trafficked people, no attempt to reform what is obviously a broken system.
The Fugitive Slave Law didn't help the U.S. two centuries ago, Taiwan, and its cousin won't help you now. Let's make sure the U.S. doesn't step back two hundred years like Taiwan threatens to by asking your state to support domestic workers' rights, many of whom are migrants. Together, we can make sure the Fugitive Slave Act stays a historical document. - Amanda Kloer, October 14, 2010, http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/taiwan_considers_fugitive_slave_law_for_migrant_workers
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