MIDTERM PAPER

10857745
Protection of Nationals

Migration involves moving from one place to another, either within or across national boarders for various purposes; for work, permanent residency, tourism, education, medical assistance and etc. Migration in the world today is inevitable, around 175 million persons currently live in countries outside their country of birth. 2.9% of world’s population to be exact.

Republic of the Philippines is the third leading source of migrant workers or OFW’s in the world next to China and India (Inq.net, 2005). According to CFO, POEA, DFA and PEC’s, as of December 2008, the total number of overseas Filipinos abroad is 8.18M. 3.9 are OFW’S, 3.6 are permanent residents and 0.65M are irregular or commonly known as the TNT’s. They are found in more than 193 countries of destination . Majority of whom are in North America, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, and the newly industrialized economies of Asia(Høgsholm ) . Since Philippines is a top source of knowledge workers, migration today is continuous for skilled and unskilled workers since migration is considered as an inherent culture.

Here are some reasons, or the push and pull factors that drive residents away from their homeland; Push factors are; unemployment, poverty, underemployment, lack of job opportunities, low minimum wages and competition. Pull factors are those attracts migrants to host countries because of these reasons; attractive benefits and privileges, conducive environment, better working conditions, and advance skills and technologies . Migration for labor is not an individual choice rather a family choice.

Migration report in 2005 stated that, migrationbring cost and benefit to both sending and receiving country although these are not equally shared. Migrants represent 2.9 percent of the worlds population. It was also accepted as true that more Asians are finding jobs in Asia as itself. Some researchers in the United States and United kingdom shows that migrants contribute more in taxes than what they receive. Migrants engage in all skill levels that occupying jobs that the locals are either unwilling to take .

Today, issues regarding migration are continuous considering that one of the 8 realities of the former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the “Protection of the Nationals”. Republic Act of 8042 commonly know as the Migrant Workers Act of 1995, it was ratify by the Philippine Congress as a response to the highly emotional issue of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina OFW who was executed in Singapore, this event stress the abuses and sufferings of a Filipino OFW. Since then, R.A 8042 implements its rules for migrant workers including; the Office of the under secretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) for extending legal services for OFW’s suffering from maltreatment, injustice and other unfair labor practices, Provides for a stricter regulation on overseas employment particularly illegal recruitment, Establishes one-country-team approach, ensures humane and decent working conditions and secures the best terms of employment in host countries, Mandatory repatriation of under aged workers and etc. R.A 8042 section 2 (c) also emphasize that the state does not promote overseas work as a key for economic growth and achieve national development. Whereas R.A 8042 allows the deployment of OFW’s supposedly to countries where Philippines has a good relation, in order to protect the rights of Filipino Nationals. However there have been a remarkable advance for the implementation of R.A 8042, example of these are; shared government information system, travel advisories, legal assistance for migrant workers, the country team approach, streamline recruitment procedures. Various offices and agencies were created to ensure the implementation of the said policy. Like, Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB), that is in charge to negotiate with the terms and conditions of employment, National Seamen Board (NSB), regulate and supervise activities of agents or representatives of shipping companies in hiring workers, and jurisdiction over cases involving Filipino seamen, Office of Emigrant Affairs (OEA), who maintains close ties with the Filipino migrant communities. Participation of non- governmental organization played an important role as partners of government entities on implementing R.A 8042. Section 2 (h) of R.A 8042 clearly grants legitimate NGO’s are states partners on protecting Filipino nationals.

On the other hand, there are still issues that the R.A 8042 did not successfully address. According to Loretta Ann P. Rosales, a Philippine legislator, R.A 8042 fails to protect migrant workers basically because host countries are beyond its jurisdiction. Ineffective pre- departure orientation also fails to play its role to help migrant workers to adjust on the culture of the country of destination so as to inform OFW on their rights as migrant workers. And give migrant workers knowledge about the procedure to be taken in case of emergency. Last June 2009, 67 suspected gays in Riyadh were arrested for dressing up in woman’s cloth, suspected gays were compelled to resign for the fear of being charged. OWWA then advised the LGBT to act cautiously in accordance to the countries culture. A report from ABS-CBN network last June 10, 2010 was reported. Dubs a Filipino migrant worker who is supposed to return to Saudi Arabia as a caregiver receives a memorandum, banning members from the third sex to enter the kingdom. The embassy affirmed that “officials of recruitment agencies who are responsible in conducting interviews of job applicants to Saudi Arabia are strongly advised to screen them thoroughly so that those belonging to the third sex are exhausted.” This issue is a clear manifestation of gender discrimination among migrant workers.

The usual issues, problems and concerns that Filipino Overseas face are; high cost of placement fees, lack of information on policies of host country, lack of preparation of the migrant workers and his/her family, illegal recruitment, deployment, departure, lack of employment opportunities and limited job offers. Sometimes migrant workers are shock since it’s not what they expected.

In Qatar, Aguilar a migrant worker who was arrested after mistaken as Jason Aguilar Ivler convicted of murder in the Philippines and was included in the Interpol Red Notice. Following this event, Philippine Ambassador to Qatar, Crescente Relacion ask for an additional protection measure for OFW’s in Quatar. This includes a need for Qatar to inform the Philippine embassy whenever a migrant worker will be arrested or deported (A. Sambidge, 2010).

Filipino migrants in Europe number approximately a million ( 824,419) in 2005 according to CFMW, Commission of Filipino Migrant Workers, the largest concentrations being in Italy, Spain and Britain , with large numbers also found in Germany, Greece, France, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Belgium, with the rest in other countries of the European Union, and in Scandinavia. Migration to Europe started during 60’s in response to Europe’s need for labor as a result of there involvement to war. Most of Filipino migrants in Europe are highly educated or professionals. 80% of Filipinos in Europe are women. They should not be 29 years of age when they leave the country and unmarried. Filipino women in Europe are being use for cheap private labor. This emphasizes feminization or discrimination. Filipinos who come to Europe with tourist visa who overstayed would be considered as irregular migrants. CFO (Commission for Filipinos Overseas) estimates that there are some 143,035 of these undocumented .

“Canada is one of the chosen countries of destination for Filipinos seeking to work and live abroad. But life for migrant workers and overseas Filipinos is not all that rosy in the “Land of the Free,””(MAKILAN, 2006). The second largest country after Russia is Canada, In fact government data showed that Canada is the 10th largest source of remittances of the OFW’s amounting of $117.06 million. But life of Filipino Nationals in Canada is not easy, abuse and injustice among Filipinos is inevitable. Filipinos who could not practice their professions or are being abused by their employers. Nurses have to wait for at least a year to be accredited. Others are subjected to deprofessionalization like engineers who are categorized and hired as engineer technicians. This scenario shows another way of inequity among workers abroad. Filipino migrants in Canada are among the first to lose their jobs when lay offs occur since Filipinos are in the bottom rung of jobs (Diocson). During the privatization of the health care system in lat 2000 known as regionalization, quite a lot of Filipino workers were laid off. As a result laid off workers were obliged to ask the help of their agencies to deploy them to other hospitals or company even in a low paying wage. Filipino’s abroad face not only work- related issues but immigration issues as well. Caregivers in Canada has another issue, they experienced unjust deportation for not being able to compel the requirements of the LCP. A caregiver who receives a memorandum for deportation should leave the country in one month, considering that these workers were not able to save money since they were deported and still has to pay debts on the country of origin (Philippines).Organizations from Canada focus on four areas; sectoral issue’s, systematic racism, youth and economic marginalization. The federation of Filipino Organizations in the Netherlands (FFON), conducted a forum concerning Issues and Concerns of Filipino migrants in the Netherlands last November 24, 1997. The continuous growth of Filipino migration in the Netherlands is an observable fact. Filipinos in search of better economic opportunities abroad, variety of factors that triggers migrations are poverty, lack of job opportunities, inequality, and aggressive export programs of the Philippine Government. The government’s labor export policy is known to be the “temporary solution” to the countries unemployment problems and balance of payment deficit. A statement from the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, “our policy is not to export labor…” hence a support to POEA’s program thrust 2008 which incorporates the “facilitation of deployment of OFW’s”.

Since the midst 1980’s Femininization of Filipino Migration became an issue. For the last few years until 2006, woman dominated male workers. Women dominated jobs such as caregivers, nurses, entertainers and domestic workers. Being an entertainer nor domestic helper is known to be a vulnerable for exploitation and violence since these jobs are not covered by labor and social roles in other countries . As a response to these issues, the government recognized new policies for the protection of domestic workers under Household Service Workers Policy Reform which took effect last 2007. To ensure the implementation of this policy, cooperation of the receiving state is a must, despite the fact that other government cannot comply with this policy since they have their own policy to consider . Since then, reduction of female entertainers and domestic workers was put into effect. Nevertheless a thorough assessment of situation of the migrant workers should be improved in order to make policies that will protect migrant workers. HWS policy was a unilateral choice of the Philippine government.
Irregular migrants or undocumented Filipinos Overseas are the most vulnerable among migrants since their rights are obviously denied by the receiving country. In 2007 the estimated number of irregular migrants was 900,023 higher than the previous year . Filipino migrants became undocumented because of some reasons. A number of Filipino migrants leave the country without proper documentation or working permits. However some irregular migrants leave the country with document and proper visa hence, ending up being irregular migrants to escape from their abusive employer . Another reason that triggers a worker to leave the country without proper documentation is when the worker did not pass through POEA prior to his departure for work abroad. To solve this issue on illegal or irregular migrant’s bilateral negotiation on the receiving country should be impose. This could follow the support to review and revise the “kefala” or the sponsorship system. The Philippine government should play its full support to irregular migrants by rushing up issuance of passports . Illegal Recruitment is a continuous issue that the government cannot solve. Illegal Recruitment continuously victimize men and women especially in Rural areas. R.A 8042 defines recruitment as; recruitment without license or authority to recruit, substituting or altering employments contract, withholding or denying travel documents for financial reasons, failure to deploy workers without valid reason, failure to reimburse workers expenses in case where actual deployment does not take place. Migrants pay huge amount to be able to work abroad. Recruitment agencies are permitted to collect placement fee not more than his/ her one month salary . Recruitment agencies are also allowed to collect service from the foreign employer . According to a COA audit report “actions relating to Illegal Recruitments are inadequate”. Philippine government has its own method on combating illegal recruitment like; Upgrading documentation services for OFW’s, creation of the Presidential- Anti Recruitment Task Force (PAIRIF), advocacy effort on amendments for R.A 8042, and legal assistance for the victims of illegal recruitment. Policies and Programs for pre-departure such as travel advisories exit controls and workers documentation and etc. On- site programs such as Country- Team Approach, contingency planning. Reintegration programs such as Overseas Filipino Investor’s Bond, Saving and Investment options were also crafted. As a response to Illegal Recruitment, The Presidents Executive Order No. 548 clearly defines the role of government in fighting Illegal Recruitment and guiding POEA’s agreement with the LGU’s.

Protection of nationals should be the primary focus of the government now, seeing its effect to Filipino Nationals around the world. Human Rights and inequity is the primary issue. Any migrant worker should have the same labour laws that applys with the local workers in the host country. Labor Export Policy which promotes deployment strategy but without governments effort to monitor and ensure the protection of migrant workers as well as his/her family would undo whatever success it may attain in response to issues and concerns of Filipino Overseas. Republic of the Philippines already has policies and programs Indicated in Republic Act 8042 commonly known as Migrant Workers Law. For further regulation, State should partly established clear mechanisms on coordination and cooperation with agencies and other states. The government should present central database and information system on labor and migration for accountability. What the government needs is a more effective implementation of its regulatory functions in order to overcome overseas Filipino workers issue. To avoid another case like Flor Contemplacion.

Other Sources:

POEA Statistical Data, September 2001
“Reviewing Gains, Understanding Empowerment, Deepening Strategies (Highlights of the 6” Regional Conference on Migration”. Asian Migrant Center Yearbook 2000.
“Philippines”. (Country Report) Asian Migrant Center Yearbook 2000.
Oostindie, hwin. “International Labor Migration is Modern Day Slavery: Philippine Workers Go Abroad to Help Families Survive Back Home”
Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos (ERCOF). The Development Potential of Migration. 2000.
Department of Labor and Employment. The Overseas Employment Program (White Paper) 1995.
AMEND. Uphold Migrant Rights and Interests: Amend RA 8042. May 2001
Notes from other course or subjects: Philippine Constitution and International Law