BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
Bulatlat.com Volume III, Number 47 January 4 - 10, 2004 URL : http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-37/3-37-overseasfil.html
Jose Alejo was one of many unfortunate migrant
workers who suffered under the Philippine government's abandonment
of OFWs. He returned home this year, jobless, after seven
years in a Saudi jail and 70 lashes. His case illustrates
the tough year overseas Filipino workers and their families
had under the Macapagal-Arroyo government.
An OFW's lament
Disappointed. This was Joselito Alejo's reaction on the government's
actions on his case. Alejo was charged with murder in 1997 in Saudi Arabia because
he had the misfortune of having the same name as the real
perpetrator.
He said he was interrogated and tortured by Saudi policemen
using a baseball bat, ray shark's tail or anything that the
police could lay their hands on. His case was only brought
to Saudi Arabia's high court in June 2002 or five years after
he was arrested. And after he was finally released in June
2003, he was again invited by a Saudi lower court in June
2003 for further investigation.
When the Saudi court decided to impose 350 lashes, the Philippine
embassy appealed for clemency. Alejo at first did not want
to appeal because it meant conviction. He later acceded in
order to get back to the Philippines earlier.
Macapagal-Arroyo's promise to prioritize him for another
job opportunity abroad, along with financial assistance, is
yet to come. The P10,000 that Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
(OWWA) administrator Virgilio Angelo "donated" was
the fruit of Alejo's effort.
This experience makes Alejo doubt the government's proclamation
of OFWs as "new heroes." He said that migrant workers
are only considered heroes if they are still able to remit
dollars but abandoned when charged with criminal cases, like
what happened to him who had worked abroad since 1980 before
being arrested.
He was, however, very thankful to Migrante International
for campaigning for his release and taking on the responsibility
that the government failed to carry out.
Sexual abuse and maltreatment
Alejo is not the only victim of, as Migrante Sectoral Party
(MSP) describes it, "OWWA's criminal neglect of duty."
Grace, not her real name, is an Ifugao reportedly abducted
and raped by Emirati Khalifa Hassan Khalifa on May 16, 2003.
After 10 days in the hospital, she was sentenced by the Dubai
Misdemeanor Court for intoxication and adultery charges to
two months imprisonment and deportation. Khalifa on the other
hand was freed on bail on Sept. 11. Since all government programs
for the OFWs have been indefinitely suspended since August
last year reportedly for restructuring, it was again Migrante
which took care of her case.
Migrante also revealed that the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) did not even inform the United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials
of the case or of its intent to actively pursue justice for
Grace in a dialogue with UAE Embassy Counsellor Sharif Altayeb
in Makati City.
Meanwhile, last November, the late Foreign Affairs Secretary
Blas Ople promoted Teresita Mendiola from being Philippine
Consul in Israel to Consul General in Guam despite complaints
of physical assault by her own Filipina maid against her.
Regilyn Duca, who was Mendiola's all-around maid and cook
for a miserable P8,200 (roughly US$150) monthly salary, was
enslaved, starved ? she had to compete with the family pets
for the table scraps ? and beaten. Duca however has never
gotten hold of her money because according to Mendiola, "it
is being held to pay for her airfare."
On the other hand, racism has led to abuse of OFWs, particularly
in the United States (U.S.) where many Filipinos are accused
of being absconders or potential terrorists. There have been
1, 458 Filipinos arrested and deported from the U.S. since
the 9/11 attacks.
Many of them were beaten, interrogated and paraded at the
airport with their arms handcuffed and their feet chained.
They were chained even when eating and using the toilet. The
planes carrying the deported Filipinos would usually land
at the airport in Clark, Angeles City instead at the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to hide the maltreatment
to the public. The latest was on Dec. 12, which unloaded 108
deportees. The deportation was reportedly related to the anti-terrorism
campaign of the U.S.
Migrante admitted that some of those deported have past cases
of sexual offense, robbery and homicide but it pointed out
that Americans charged with similar offenses are not treated
the way Asians, including Filipinos, are treated when arrested.
Alarming statistics
Statistics confirm Alejo's claim of government neglect and
abandonment.
Citing DFA records, Migrante said there are more than 2,500
OFWs facing criminal charges as of October 2003, with at least
10 men and four women on death row in Saudi Arabia.
There are likewise 1,502 cases of missing, imprisoned, raped
and maltreated OFWs. The number of such cases averages 17
a day. In the first quarter of 2003 alone, 227 deaths of OFWs
were monitored by Migrante.
Migrante has been helping in the repatriation of migrant
workers, including the remains of those who died, aside from
attending to cases of contract substitutions and violations.
The group has documented 10 "mysterious OFW deaths,"
mostly women, under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's watch.
Meanwhile, Migrante has also recorded intensified crackdowns
on Filipinos in Taiwan, South Korea and Israel, particularly
undocumented migrant workers.
With at least 17, 000 Filipinos affected by the South Korean
government crackdown, about 2,000 were already arrested before
2003 ended.
Ironically, the Philippine government even supported the
Employment Permit System or Korean 6967 that co-exists with
the Industrial Trainee System which "prevents migrants
from becoming permanent workers with adequate wages and benefits."
John Monterona, Migrante Sectoral party spokesperson and
vice chairperson, thus accused the government of being "a
party to the enactment of a law that will impose stricter
penalties and worsen migrant workers' conditions in the workplaces."
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, there are 1,500 Filipino workers
who have been stranded from three months to three years. Most
of them ran away from abusive employers who in turn have withheld
their travel documents including passports.
On Dec. 15, 16 OFWs staged a hunger striker to protest the
government's non-action on their request for repatriation
despite several dialogs with Philippine Embassy officials.
Instead of supporting them, the officials reportedly called
the Saudi police on Dec. 21 to have the strikers dispersed
to give way to the Embassy's Christmas party.
On the other hand, as of Jan. 17, 2003, OWWA records show
that there are only 3.7 million documented OFWs in 182 nations.
Migrante reports otherwise: There are 8.2 million Filipinos
abroad, including immigrants and undocumented migrant workers.
Despite all these alarming statistics, Migrante said that
the government still wants them to "stay abroad."
Corruption
Another issue that has plagued the OFWs is corruption. Migrante
charged that the Philippine government has not only abandoned
the OFWs but also steals their money.
Migrant organizations were reportedly not consulted when
the president issued Executive Order 182, which allowed the
transfer of the OFWs' P4 billion Medicare Fund to the Philippine
Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). The funds came
from the P900 (roughly $16.5) that each OFW pays yearly for
Medicare, apart from the US$25 OWWA contribution.
OWWA reported that P10 million of the funds have been lost
due to fake claimants. MSP chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado
questioned how this could happen since every claimant is approved
by no less than the OWWA administrator himself. The OWWA,
however, could not present evidence. The migrant group is
looking into the possibility of filing graft cases.
Meanwhile, OWWA released US$293,500 to Ambassador Roy Cimatu
for a massive evacuation in the Middle East during the U.S.-Iraq
war in April 2003. Migrante found in early September however
that no evacuation happened. Even OWWA administrator Angelo
admitted that OWWA did not spend a single centavo for the
evacuation. Migrante said OWWA could not present an audit
report regarding the disbursement.
Migrante also reported there are projects charged to OFW
funds yet not intended for migrant workers.
The funds for OWWA's livelihood assistance program have been
transferred to the National Livelihood Service Fund (NLSF),
which is under the Office of the President. With this transfer,
the president could now release the funds even for non-OFW
projects.
Meanwhile, the OFWs and their dependents have not been receiving
assistance since Malacañang ordered the indefinite
suspension of all welfare programs for OFWs. These include
health services, financial assistance, livelihood and repatriation
assistance and reintegration assistance.
Ironically, all OWWA programs, even employees' salaries,
are funded by migrants' contributions and nothing comes from
government.
In the 2002 OWWA report, a P6 billion fund balance was recorded.
P562 million of these was released for direct services to
OFWs in 2003; the rest, or roughly 90 percent of the P6 billion,
went to OWWA's investment projects instead of services for
the migrant workers and their families.
E-card deception
Another anomaly was the implementation of the electronic card
(E-card), which has been declared to be free of charge by
no less than the president.
Migrante-Hong Kong reported that the US$25 contribution is
being used as a precondition for the E-card application in
Hong Kong since July, when in fact the P5 million E-card production
cost was actually charged to OWWA.
On Oct. 12, OWWA personnel at the Philippine Consulate in
Hong Kong issued forms to some 200 E-card applicants without
telling them that these were actually for the HK$200 (US$25)
OWWA contribution which the Philippine government has been
trying to implement.
The alleged deception forced the applicants to tear up their
forms in protest and demand their free E-cards. The Philippine
Consulate called on the HK police to intervene and later imposed
a ban on all protests in the consulate.
Anti-migrant policies
Migrant organizations have also scored the "Omnibus Policies
of the OWWA," or Board Resolution No. 038, which was
passed on Sept. 19 last year. They said it gave extensive
and expansive powers to the Board of Trustees of OWWA who
are all Palace appointees.
Aside from alleged possible manipulation of funds and full
control over OWWA transactions, the Omnibus Policies will
make the already inaccessible programs even more difficult
to avail of.
Monterona told Bulatlat.com that the 1995 Magna Carta for
OFWs is actually another burden for them. It phased out the
regulatory functions of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA) and deregulated the deployment of Filipinos abroad
by giving the responsibility to recruitment agencies. Migrante
has called for the scrapping of the magna carta since its
passage.
No more gimmicks
Migrante said the OFW "industry" is the only earning
"industry" of the country - "bigger than the
export of pineapples, assembled semi-conductors, timber products,
and semi-manufactured foods" in terms of dollars earned.
Migrante also said that the OFW remittances are not limited
to US$7 billion annually, as stated by the Bangko Sentral
ng Pilipinas (BSP), but actually averages US$12 billion yearly.
The group said that BSP should include in its computations
remittances through "paabot" (door-to-door delivery
by fellow migrant workers), since many OFWs prefer this method
than the more expensive bank transactions.
Regalado criticized the government's annual Christmas scheme,
"Pamaskong Handog," as "preposterous."
This year's edition consists of festivities at the OWWA office
and the international airport and awarding of prizes for selected
OFWs. Regalado said they are intended to cover up all the
scams that take advantage of the OFWs and sought to project
Macapagal-Arroyo as pro-migrant.
Regalado said it was part of Macapagal-Arroyo's early political
campaign in a "desperate attempt to get the migrant votes
and their families." Even the president's posters displayed
at the NAIA was charged to the OWWA. "All throughout
the year, OFWs are abandoned," Regalado said, "then
suddenly government holds gimmicks which are charged to us."
Migrante said there are about 360,000 registered absentee
voters, exclusive of their family members in the country.
Regalado called on the government to provide jobs in the
country rather than exporting workers and rather than politicking.
She said that in the end migrant workers still want to go
home and be with their families. Bulatlat.com / Reposted by migrante_ksa.
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