The Migrant Worker

Saudi Arabia-based OFWS need help asap

2011-01-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

Probing abuses of Saudi Arabian employers on Filipino migrant workers had long been overdue. With a number of mysterious deaths, rape incidents, and many OFWs languishing in jail, one will be exasperated on the inaction of the Philippine government to address these issues and give a helping hand to the number of OFWs working in Saudi Arabia. This recent action of some congressmen to do an investigation, is worth the praise that they deserve. We pray that such will be followed up with more concrete action to help migrant workers who continue to give remittances to their families and to the Philippine economy.Here's an update:

A four-member congressional delegation will fly to Saudi Arabia on Saturday to investigate the unusually large number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) being detained or awaiting trial for various offenses in the oil-rich kingdom.
Members of the House committee on overseas workers, led by chair Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello, will be visiting distressed OFWs in Saudi from January 8 to 13.
“There have been numerous reports of OFWs being abused, maltreated and jailed in the Middle East,” said Bello.
“We are going on a mission to determine their living conditions and the quality of assistance that offices of the Philippine government provide for them,” he said.
In Riyadh, 313 have been convicted, 300 are awaiting trial, on trial, or under investigation; and 50 are detained prior to deportation, according to Bello.
More here

OWWA and DFA alerted to extend help to slain OFW in Iran

2010-07-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

The body of dead migrant worker Mark Lloyd Carmen is still in Iran and awaiting help from the OWWA and the DFA for his remains to be flown back home. Iranian authorities are also urged to conduct an autopsy on the body. Details here:

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - A Filipino migrant worker was stabbed dead on July 1 by a Sudanese national in an undisclosed location on Kish Island, Iran, a migrant worker group said Friday.

The victim, Mark Lloyd Carmen, 24, was "waiting for the issuance of his reentry visa to the United Arab Emirates when he was killed," according to the Riyadh-based OFW group Migrante-Middle East (M-ME).

Citing reports from OFWs who witnessed the incident, John Leonard Monterona, M-ME regional coordinator, told the Inquirer "a companion of the killer had challenged Carmen to a fistfight."

Carmen "ignored the suspect who later slapped him several times, prompting him to fight back. Suddenly, another Sudanese national pulled a knife and stabbed (Carmen) on the chest."

The victim was "rushed by fellow OFWs to the Kish Hospital but was declared dead on arrival at around 8 p.m.," said Monterona in an e-mail to the Inquirer.

Carmen's remains have yet to be repatriated to the Philippines, according to Monterona.

"His wife and two children are currently based in General Santos City. We are trying to get in touch with them, as well as his close relatives in the UAE so that we would provide them the necessary assistance and guidance," said Monterona.

M-ME plans to "ask the victim's family to issue a statement authorizing (Iranian authorities) to conduct an autopsy on his remains."

"The autopsy report would be used as evidence in the criminal case to be filed against the two suspects," who have been detained by the Iranian police, said Monterona.

Monterona called on the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on Friday to assist Carmen's family for the repatriation of his remains to Manila.

He also asked OWWA to "provide (Carmen's family) the financial assistance due them."

At the same time, Monterona urged the Aquino administration to "address the deplorable plight of many OFWs, including the undocumented ones and victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking."

OWWA assumes $12K repatriation cost for OFW body

2010-06-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

QUEZON CITY - Finally, the month-old frozen body of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Benjamin Yango, English teacher in Harbin, China was flown to the Philippines on June 23, 2010.

This, as Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration (OWWA) Chief of Advocacy and Information Division, Overseas Operations Coordinating Service Director Ed Bellido, speaking in behalf of OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon, said that “OWWA shall assume the repatriation cost in the amount of US$12,260.00.”

Bellido added that Yango, as an active OWWA member at the time of his death, is also entitled to P120,000.00 representing death and burial benefits from the government agency.

Benjamin Yango, 33, was found dead in his apartment on May 21, 2010. He is believed to have died of heart attack 2 or 3 days before he was found by the Police. There was no autopsy done on his body. It was learned that Benjamin’s wife, Fely Yango, decided to forgo autopsy of the body to prevent further delay of the body’s repatriation.

Yango’s remains was finally flown home to Baguio after a month of processing repatriation papers and sourcing funds to answer excessive repatriation costs which ballooned up RMB 86,000 or PhP596,000.00. This led friends, relatives, and kaliyans of Yango to solicit from friends and kailyans worldwide to defray the repatriation cost.

An online petition signed by nearly 200 signatories worldwide also called on the Philippine government particularly OWWA, the Philippine Embassy in China and the Undersecretary on Migrant Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in the Philippines to provide monetary assistance for the repatriation of the body.

It was learned that DFA’s undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban Conejos Jr said that the costs and procedural work for the repatriation of a deceased Filipino worker is the responsibility of either the worker’s employer or recruitment agency. Yango did not go through a recruitment process.

It was learned that Yango’s employer paid the equivalent of P14,600 for the cost of freezing of the body for 23 days.

Yango traces his roots from Bontoc, Mountain Province and Benguet./by Gina Dizon

More updates here

Letter-appeal petitioning the Philippine Government to Immediately Expedite Repatriation of Deceased OFW Benjamin Yango

2010-06-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Letter-Appeal Petitioning Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine Embassy to immediately Expedite Release of Financial Assistance for the Repatriation of the Body of Deceased Migrant Worker Benjamin Galap Yango from China to the Philippines

To:
HON. PABLITO MENDOZA
Consul, Philippine Embassy
China

Hon. JOSE S. BRILLANTES
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs
Department of Foreign AffairsPhilippines

Hon. CARMELITA S. DIMZON
Administrator, OWWA
Philippines

Hon. MARIANITO ROQUE
Labor SecretaryPhilippines

Sirs/Madam;

In pursuit of protecting the rights of overseas migrant workers who continue to provide millions of remittances to the coffers of the government, respectfully asking your immediate action for the release of financial assistance to expedite release of the body of migrant worker, Benjamin Galap Yango, currently lying in a morgue at Harbin, China,to enable repatriation as soon as possible to the deceased’s hometown in Bontoc, Mountain Province.

Benjamin G. Yango, 33, believed to have died of heart attack 2 or 3 days prior to May 21, 2010 when the Police found him dead in his apartment, has no autopsy and investigation done yet on the body.

Benjamin Galap Yango traces his roots from Bontoc, Mountain Province and Benguet. He is married to Fely Tomino of Kabayan, Benguet and blessed with two children. He is an English teacher at Longdi Primary School in A'cheng, Harbin, China since 2007 to the present when he met his death.

As of now, repatriation fees reportedly cost RMB 86,000 (PhP 584,800) and cost getting higher as the body remains in the morgue.
Concerned government agencies including the Philippine Embassy in China have been repeatedly asked by Benjamin Yango's widow for said agency to provide and/or facilitate monetary assistance to enable repatriation of the body to the Philippines, only to be met by a negative response.

Considering the above, we strongly reiterate prior requests and ask concerned offices to provide the necessary monetary assistance to immediately enable the body of the deceased to be flown to his hometown as soon as possible.

Especially, we call on OWWA to provide and/or facilitate financial assistance for the human remains of Benjamin Yango to be repatriated to Philippine soil as part of its responsibility and duty to provide services for migrant workers.

We also reiterate one of the objectives of the Philippine Embassy “to protect the rights and promote the welfare of Filipinos overseas workers…” and its mission be implemented in a substantial manner to be of concrete service to our brother and sister migrant workers and their families who continue to provide a big part of the economic backbone of the country.

It is therefore urgently requested that the Philippine Embassy, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in their respective capacities fast track the release of monetary assistance which the Philippine government should provide as part of its obligation and duty to protect and support the rights and welfare of migrant workers and their families.

We likewise support Benguet Province Governor Nestor Fongwan in asking the DFA to ask the Philippine Embassy in China to assist in the repatriation of the body as soon as possible.

We likewise urge Mountain Province Governor Maximo Dalog in his respective effort to do the appropriate action for the immediate release of the body of Benjamin Yango in order that the body be flown home as soon as possible.

In the same vein, we urge the concerned offices—OWWA, DFA and the Philippine Embassy in China - to intervene/ask/urge Ms. Wang Ying, the school owner-employer of Benjamin Yango to provide the corresponding financial assistance for Benjamin Yango as his employee of the latter’s untimely death.
Your attention is much appreciated.

Sincerely,

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/benjaminyango/signatures

Thorny rose: Canada’s live-in care program

2010-01-29T19:43:00.000-08:00

Ana worked in Canada as a caregiver for six long years before she was finally able to gain a permanent residency status and sponsor her family to Canada.

Canada’s Live-In Caregiver (LCP) program requires that a caregiver-migrant worker with a temporary work visa must complete 24 months of live-in work within a 36-month period before she can obtain an open visa and apply for permanent residency.

That means the caregiver has to stay in her employer’s house for at least two to three years and be rewarded by calling her family to Canada.

Otherwise, when she breaks this rule, she will have to work for longer hours to complete the requirement and suffer more the separation. SIKLAB, a Filipino-based workers group in Canada says the caregiver stays as long as eight years to complete the requirement due to change of employers among other reasons including processing delays of the Canadian Immigration Council (CIC) in granting an open permit.

Staying in the employer’s home is an issue by itself. Ana is not happy having suffered the loneliness of not being with her family for 6 years.

‘The mandatory live-in requirement places caregivers under the beck and call of their employers for 24 hours a day. Many women under the LCP work overtime hours for little or no pay, even after formalizing a set of rules about overtime hours on an employment contract, if at all. Despite the myth that caregivers are “members of the family,” the live-in requirement makes it more favorable to the employers to enjoy the cheap labor of these women’, SIKLAB contends.

Much as it is exploitative of cheap labor, the LCP denies the caregiver the universal right to mobility to live outside her employer’s home. Call it modern day slavery; the migrant worker-caregiver endures the stay- in arrangement just to comply with the requirement for a promising ‘future’ of calling her family to join her in Canada.

The 3,900 hours work requirement before one can apply for a permanent residency status is one among the reforms in the LCP program issued by Canadian Minister Jason Kenney last December 12.

The other reforms are: extension of the period of being able to complete the live-in requirement from three years to four years; elimination of the second medical examination when applying for permanent residency; employers covering the live-in caregiver’s travel and medical costs and providing signed contracts that clearly outline work hours, overtime, sick leave and vacation, and that live-in caregivers will be able to obtain emergency work permits within three weeks if they are abused.

Some LCPers are happy of these reforms, yet SIKLAB says Kenney is no Santa Claus to the thousands of migrant caregivers in Canada. At least 96 percent of Canada's Filipino migrant workers are caregivers. “The 3,900 hours is no different from working 24 months. This is, in fact, another way of exploiting the cheap labor that will only benefit the employers,” stated Roderick Carreon, National Chairperson of SIKLAB Canada.

These reforms are “exploitative,” says the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), SIKLAB Canada (Filipino workers organization) and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA). The groups say these changes ‘make the racist and anti-woman LCP more palatable to Canadians in order to cover-up the systemic weaknesses inherent in immigration policies.’

Yet, some caregivers apparently ignore the issue and are still happy that there is LCP. Ana says she is happy that the LCP is there and has made her family life better among other Filipino-migrant workers’ lives. With miserable poverty in the Philippines, a Flipino caregiver would be happy even in suffering conditions abroad in exchange for a promising ‘income’ and being able to sponsor her family finally to Canada after a long wait. Besides, Ana took advantage of the Canadian government’s privatized child/eldercare program and now manages a caregiver home catering to Canadians needing privatized care from Filipino caregivers.

SIKLAB sees this privatized healthcare as the failure of the government to provide social services to its citizens. The LCP is the de facto national childcare program of Canada which shows government’s lack of a universal childcare and eldercare program.

While Filipinos continue to migrate to Canada as a promising haven from poverty in the Philippines, and be a rich source of caregivers for Canadian elderly and children, the equal need for this rich and cost saving human resource of the Canadian government needs recognition and given its due: That they not be held captive within their employers’ home unless they want to; that foreign professionals such as nurses and doctors are treated professionally and bring their families along with them when they enter Canada; and that the LCP program be scrapped to avoid more suffering migrant worker-caregivers separated from their families.

From Northern Philippine Times

Filipino caregivers share stories of family separation

2010-01-10T05:07:00.000-08:00

Here is some seemingly good news for Filipino migrant worker-caregivers of Canada under its Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Minister Jason Kenny announced changes to the LCP Program last December 12, 2009. Among the changes in the LCP program are:
1. exemption to taking a second medical test as a pre-requisite to becoming a permanent resident; and
2. application for permanent status after 3,900 work hours or the equivalent of over two years as against the current requirement that a caregiver has to complete two years of work within a span of 36 months or three years equivalent.
The above changes shall be considered final following consultation for 30 days beginning December 19.

For SIKLAB however, these reforms are not solving the separation of caregivers from their families besides being 'exploitative and racist'. Found below is an email printed in Northern Philippine Times from the Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia, Canada, SIKLAB-BC (Filipino Workers Organization), Philippine Women Centre of B.C., Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance and Filipino Nurses Support Group detailing stories of family separation among Filipino caregivers in Canada.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia. -- Two days before Christmas, Filipino live-in caregivers and their children shared their stories of struggle and resistance in a press conference.

Organizers of the conference highlighted the negative effects of family separation during the Holiday Season and throughout the years as women are forced apart from their loved ones because of restrictions of Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

Despite proposed government reforms to the LCP, the community groups say that the LCP is “fundamentally flawed” and remains a key program that denies the Filipino community as a whole genuine long-term settlement and integration in Canadian society. The proposed changes include changes to the calculation of the mandatory period of work and a waiver of the second medical examination for new LCP applicants.

Inday Suelo, current live-in caregiver and member of SIKLAB-BC, a group that aims to advance and uphold the rights of Filipino workers in Canada, shared her challenges with problematic employers, poor working conditions, below minimum wage earnings, and long delays in the processing of papers.

She explained that the LCP leaves thousands of live-in caregivers, 95% of whom are Filipino women, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. She left behind her daughter in the Philippines, now fourteen, to work in Canada .

This will be her second Christmas away from her family, leaving her to spend her Christmas with friends here. She said she misses the Philippines and despite her employer offering her a ticket to visit her family, she was unable to go because of delays in processing her work permit.

Gloria Remirata, also member of SIKLAB and former live-in caregiver, shared her experience of being separated from her three children for six years while working in Canada - missing her children’s birthdays, Christmases, educational accomplishments.

The LCP does not allow workers the right to bring their families to Canada causing an average of 8 years of separation, according to research studies.

Suelo and Remirata are Philippine-trained professionals, a midwife and high-school teacher respectively. They shared experiences of deskilling and their concern of a future of economic marginalization and downward labour mobility because of systemic barriers perpetuated by the fundamental pillars of the LCP a mandatory period of work within a specified length of time since entry into Canada ; the employer-specific work contract; temporary immigration status; and a mandatory live-in requirement.

The testimonial of Justin Remirata, Remirata’s son was also read. He shared the hardships in building a new relationship with his estranged mother, the barriers he faced in the education system, and the challenges of being a low-wage worker to support the family’s economic needs.

“For six years we celebrated Christmas without our mother,” said Remirata. “I hope this program is scrapped so that other youth do not have to experience thing I did,” he added.

He said he shared his story for, “those youth who are too far away to tell their stories and for the mothers sending back gifts packed in balikbayan boxes waiting to use overpriced calling cards to call their children back home.”

The groups say the impacts of mothers working under the LCP , “ripples into the lives of the children of live-in caregivers where they become the next generation of cheap labourers rather than achieving upward labor mobility.”

UBC Geography Professor Geraldine Pratt encouraged Canadians to understand the long-term implications of the LCP as a temporary foreign labour program that de-skills members of the community across generations.

Christina Panis, Vice-Chair of PWC, also urged Canadians to understand that the LCP is not “Filipino issue,” but a Canadian issue. She explained that the LCP is Canada ’s de-facto national childcare program and forwards privatized health care that benefits only Canadians that can afford it. She urged Canadians to unite with the call to have a complete overhaul of Canada ’s immigration program, that includes scrapping the LCP , allowing immigrant families to come to Canada with permanent residency, and implementing a universal childcare and healthcare that will benefit the majority of Canadians.

The speakers shed light on the reality of the tinkering being proposed to the program. They explained that the changes are “merely cosmetic and provide only band aid solutions to serious problems.” When asked if scrapping the LCP would remove the “opportunity” for low-skilled workers to come into Canada , Panis challenged Canadians to re-examine the tendency to view Filipino and immigrants of underdeveloped countries as low-skilled cheap laborers.

She explained that the overwhelming majority of women, since the 1960s to the present, entering Canada from the Philippines are in reality highly-educated and skilled workers such as nurses, teachers, mid-wives, and accountants.

Both Pratt and Panis pointed to the larger structural problems of Canada ’s immigration system that fails to recognize the community as highly-skilled workers. Instead Panis explained the NAPWC’s position that women should be allowed to come to Canada as they did 30 years ago as professionals with a choice to have their family alongside them and not funneled into doing underpaid domestic work.

The groups called to, “scrap the exploitative, anti-woman, racist, anti-worker LCP .”

For more information, please contact Leah or Glecy at ph: 604-682-4451 or e-mail:siklab@kalayaancentre.net

Links:

Canada to make it easier for live-in caregivers from abroad to obtain residency

Merry Christmas Juana Tejada

Broken Dreams: LCP program

To an individual/organization or other entity with an interest in the future of the Philippines’ banking industry

2010-01-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

We, an organization named DEADBOL (Depositors Enabling All Depositors in Banks Of Legacy), thought that it may be of some interest to you to become aware that a huge number of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), expatriates currently residing in the Philippines, and other foreigners with financial interests in the Philippines, will no longer trust another peso of their hard-earned money to become part of the Philippines banking industry. They will be depositing their monies in the countries where they now reside or were former residents of, but more importantly, in countries that they trust to secure their financial futures.

Many of the aforementioned mistakenly believed that the assurances posted within Philippine bank premises, along with the same being stated on a government departmental website, were in fact true. What we are referring to here are the PDIC’s (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation) misleading statements about deposit insurance in the Philippines. Indeed, they actually state that their vision is to be a ‘world-class’ organization in depositor protection and that they actually “exercise complementary supervision” of the banks that they oversee.

These have been proven to be just meaningless words, issued to bestow a false confidence upon a nation of unsuspecting depositors. In practice, PDIC don’t even come close to ‘world class’ and second class would be paying them a huge complement.

Members of DEADBOL, and thousands of others, had the misfortune of depositing their hard-earned monies in banks supervised by PDIC, and are now paying a huge price for believing the statements proudly promoted by this government entity. Many even encouraged family members to deposit into the Philippine economy, only now to rue the day that they gave such encouragement. Family’s have been torn apart by PDIC’s inability to act on its mandated obligations.

It has now been ten months since PDIC supervised banks closed, and more than the mandated six months since claims were finally allowed to be filed. Many claimants have still not heard the slightest murmur from PDIC regarding their claims. Some, admittedly, have received a very small percentage of their overall claims, but this feels like the deployment of yet another confidence trick, nothing but fire-fighting by the PDIC. They are certainly doing nothing to eradicate the inferno.

More here:
http://deadbol.com/

OFW remittances hit record high in May

2009-07-19T04:53:00.000-07:00

By Des Ferriols

MANILA, Philippines - Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in May were higher than central bank expectations, with the monthly inflows reaching a new record high at $1.48 billion as more Filipinos sought jobs abroad.

The record inflows in May brought the cumulative remittances for the first five months of the year to $6.98 billion, representing a 2.8-percent increase from the level recorded in the same period last year.

OFW remittances are the most closely-watched economic data since these finance private spending which has become the most critical economic growth driver.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that OFW remittances coursed through banks grew year-on-year by 3.7 percent in May 2009, higher than the two- to three-percent growth projected earlier.

Read more here

Deployment on to risky Middle East

2009-06-26T00:14:00.001-07:00

With told and untold cases of human abuse perpetrated by employers to Filipino overseas workers in the Middle East, the government is all set to continue its bilateral relations with countries particularly Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar and Iraq.

Money is more important to the Philippine government so it encourages deployment to these risky countries where security of migrant workers is at risk. Clearly, the Philippine government would rather receive millions of remittances from suffering Filipinos rather than making sure that its people are free from human rights abuses and decent jobs back home.

Read more opinion in Lifting of Deployment Ban, Subjecting More OFWs to Abuse

Better to work home

2009-06-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Former seafarer Rolando Sarno,53, is happy to work home in the Philippines running his own ship. The elderly Sarno is just one of the many overseas Filipino workers –called modern-day heroes because of their remittances.

With some cash savings, they prefer to stay with their families and start their own business rather than be a migrant worker again.

Read more in Pinoys Bare Heroic Life as Former Modern-day Heroes

Register now for the 2010 elections

2009-06-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

For overseas workers and Filipinos living in other countries outside of the Philippines, 18 years old and above, register now at the nearest Philippines embassy for the 10 May 2010 presidential and senatorial elections. Personal appearance is required for the biometrics capture of photograph, thumbprint, and signature.

Other requirements include: a valid Philippine passport or in its absence, a Department of Foreign Affairs certification; and an accomplished OAV registration / certification form which is available at the Embassy or Consulate or can be downloaded from the Comelec website: http://www.comelec.gov.ph

Seafarers, who get to register and vote in posts where their ship may happen to be during the election period, also need to present a photocopy of Seaman’s Book or proof of being a seafarer.

Filipinos who retained a re-acquired their Filipino citizenship under Republic Act 9225 granting dual citizenship also need to present the original or certified true copy of the Order of Approval of Application, or their Philippine passport.

All qualified Filipinos abroad can go to Philippine embassies, consulates and other foreign-service offices to register, while those in the process of leaving may do so at the Committee on OAV at the Comelec, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, or POEA ground floor, and the OFW Pre-Departure Lounge of the Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

During the same period, previous registrants can also file or request for transfer of registration records; reinstatement in the National Registry of OAV; correction of wrong entries / misspelled names; withdrawal of application for registration / certification pending approval; or reactivation of registration record.

Questions can be directed to http://www.comelec.gov.ph, as well as the DFA Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat at (632) 833-0914 or (632) 832-8363; and at their website, http://www.dfa.gov.ph.

Link here for the Overseas Absentee Voting Act

70K plus jobs for unemployed

2009-06-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up of the earlier Job Fair post.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)said nearly 70,000 new graduates and other job seekers were hired during the Independence Day Job Fair held June 12-14 in Manila, Philippines.

This is good news for job seekers in the country. We expect more moves by the government to generate decent jobs in-country to prevent Filipinos from leaving. This move also is a relief for some unfortunate souls who get victimized by unscrupulous recruiters who ran away with their money in applying for jobs abroad.

Find out more about this in http://www.philstar .com/Article. aspx?articleId=477792&publicati onSubCat\egoryId=63

Returning OFWs to quarantine themselves due to swine flu

2009-06-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

Following the hospitalization of a nurse from Saudi Arabia for swine flu, returning Filipino overseas contract workers are advised to quarantine themselves for 10 days to prevent the spread of Influenza A (HINI) virus. Those hit with swine flu are told to wash their hands frequently, to wear masks, cough with a tissue or your arm, and stay home when you are sick.

The number of H1N1 cases worldwide stood at 658 early Sunday, according to World Health Organization. Swine flu has been confirmed in 16 countries. Mexico has the largest number of confirmed cases with 397, followed by the United States at 160. Sixteen (16) people in Mexico and a toddler in the United States have died from the virus.

The WHO has confirmed cases in 14 other countries: Canada, with 51; the United Kingdom with 15; Spain with 13; Germany with six; New Zealand with four; Israel with three; France, with two; and Austria, China, South Korea, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Costa Rica, each have one.

Rea more about the swine flu update in http://worldnewspage.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/confirmed-cases-of-h1n1-virus-stand-at-658-who-says/

Filipino caregivers to take healthcare study in Japan

2009-06-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

Filipino health care workers who intend to work in Japan faces demanding criteria on a new bilateral policy. According to a recent Memorandum of Understanding between Japan and the Philippines, Filipino nurses and caregivers who wish to work in Japan have to enroll on a two to four year school caregiving course in Japan, before they are certified health care workers fit to work in the country. This means even if they have already finished a two to four year caregiving course in the Philippines, they have to take another round of health course in Japan. Read more about this in http://ofwngayon.com/home/2009/06/deployment-rules-for-nurses-caregivers-to-japan-clarified/#more-1158.

Job Fair for govt, business and OFW applicants

2009-06-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

On the occasion of the celebration of the 111th anniversary of Philippine Independence on June 12-14, the Philippine government assists thousands of unemployed in the country look for jobs. Employment advertized is in government, the business sector and migrant workers . Read more about this in .4 million jobs in DOLE job fair.

Honest HK OFW gets ticket home

2009-06-04T01:28:00.000-07:00

It pays to be honest.

Plus start-up money and scholarship for her kids, honest migrant worker Mildred Perez who rummages garbage in Hongkong for a living, gets a plane ticket back home in the Philippines and scholarship for her children, courtesy of Senator Francis 'Chiz' Escudero.

Leila Salaverria of Philippine Daily Inquirer reports:

MANILA, Philippines—The jobless Filipino in Hong Kong who returned the HK$350,545 or P2.1 million in cash and checks she found in a garbage bin to its owner will get a plane ticket home, a start-up capital for a small business, and scholarship for her children.

All these, much more than the can of butter cookies she got from the grateful owner, were promised by Senator Francis Escudero, who on Tuesday said his office already communicated with Mildred Perez by phone Monday.

Her deed “only shows that Filipinos, however poor and lowly they may be, wherever they may be, are honest and morally upright. Perez should be emulated and recognized for what she did notwithstanding the dire financial straits she is in,” Escudero said in a statement.

For his part, Nueva Vizcaya Representative Carlos Padilla on Monday filed a resolution commending Perez for her honesty.

More here http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20090603-208632/Honest-HK-OFW-gets-ticket-home

AND MORE HERE

Honest OFW came from honest tribe in Vizcaya
By Ben Moses Ebreo, Melvin Gascon

BAMBANG, NUEVA VIZCAYA—The Filipino migrant worker, who returned HK$350,545 or P2.1 million in cash and in checks she found in a garbage bin in Hong Kong to its owner, is a member of a local indigenous tribe known for its honesty.

Mildred Perez, 38, is now the toast of her provincemates for her display of honesty, a trait that has been ingrained in most members of the Isinai tribe.

“It is an honor to be honest,” said Andres Perez, 56, father of Mildred. He said honesty was an honored virtue in the tribe.

Continue http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090604-208722/Honest-OFW-came-from-honest-tribe-in-Vizcaya

OFW remittance fees will go to corruption, says group

2008-08-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

Hayna nga talaga. While overseas contract workers have to sacrifice and leave their families in order to earn money to send a child to school or build a nice house, exorbitant fees from their remittances are being collected from them. Read the following article:

MANILA, Philippines - A migrant workers advocacy group on Wednesday said that the exorbitant fees being collected from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) will not go to the national budget but to the pockets of corrupt politicians.

Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado told GMANews.TV in an interview that the government is intensifying its collection tactics to earn more from our workers overseas. Private cash transfer firm Western Union Co. has already begun collecting documentary stamp tax from money sent home by OFWs.

MORE

SOUTH KOREA: Migrant Workers' Rights Clouded by Race, Class

2008-08-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

By Alex Jong Lee

SEOUL, Dec 19 (IPS) - Since August, rights activists in South Korea have been fighting a crackdown on illegal migrant workers. But South Asian and South-east Asians are resentful that Westerners, particularly those in the country’s booming English language teaching industry, are seen differently.

"I guess the perspective of the Korean left (how they focus on migrant exploitation) is okay but that can be problematic if they are not talking about ‘white migrants,’" said Bonojit Hussain, a member of the Progressive Students’ Union in India and a graduate student at Song Kong Hoe University.

Most "progressives" in S. Korea, he suggested, highlight the "plight" of migrant workers and push for legal reforms, but downplay issues of race, class, and nationality, particularly where it concerns English language-teaching foreign workers from the richer Western countries.

Moreover, he said, popular discourse on migration has become more politicised and the word, "migrant" itself usually evokes negative sentiment.

"If you bring the element of class into it, not their class background in their own country but after coming to Korea -- white or brown or yellow or whatever -- then if you add the dynamics of class, then I think we should qualify it this way: ‘working class migrant’ and ‘elite migrant,’" Hussain argued. "There is a distinction --all white migrants are elite."

MORE HERE

Help-institutions for migrant workers in Korea

2008-08-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

Korea’s Migrant Workers Find Voice on Air

The Korean Community TV Channel RTV launched the Migrant Worker’s Television (MWTV) in 2005.Presenters include migrants who run the gauntlet of Korea’s Immigration Bureau. MWTV broadcasts weekly news programs in nine languages (Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, English, Indonesian, Mongolian, Nepali, Russian and Tagalog), focusing on issues of importance to migrant workers, news from home countries and explanations of Korean news for foreign residents.

Migrant workers offered free interpretation and counseling

……Overseas workers suffer more than just homesickness, misunderstanding and improper treatment due to lack of communication and cultural differences at their workplaces or in course of daily living. Having grown aware of overseas workers' difficulties living in Korea, the Korea International Labor Foundation (KOILAF) Interpretation Service Center has been helping migrant workers to understand Korea better, including labor-related legal issues and cultural understanding, by providing language assistance service in seven languages -- English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Russian, Indonesian and Thai.

KASAMMAKO or Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers in Korea is an alliance of Filipino migrant organizations in Korea. It was originally composed of the following migrant groups:

1. Association of Filipino Migrant Workers in Korea (AFILMWOK)
2. Bicol Association
3. Federation of Filipino Workers in Korea (FFWK)
4. New Era Foundation
5. Sama-sama sa Korea (SSK)

Migrante International
Alliance of Filipino Migrant Organizations

Migrant Workers Health Association in

Korea

Cordillera Brotherhood Association

Sagada Migrant Workers Association

Guri Pastoral Center ... 031-566-1141
Ansan Galilea Center ... 031-494-8411
Suwon Emmaus Center ... 031-257-8501
Friends Without Borders Counseling Office ... 032-345-6734/5
Gasan, Song-uri Int'l. Community ... 031-543-5296
Uijungbu, Nokyandong Migrant Center ... 031-878-6926
Masok Chonmasan Migrant Center ... 031-593-6542
Bomun, Seoul Foreign Labor Counseling Office ... 02-928-2049/ 924-2706

RELATED LINKS

Asia Pacific Forum on Law, Women, and Development

The Church Intervention on Filipino Migration International Catholic Migration Commission

Study reveals problems OFWs face in S. Korea

2008-08-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

Long hours of work, poor working conditions, delayed or unpaid salaries, and misunderstanding due to language and cultural differences are the most common problems Filipinos working under the Employment Permit System are facing in South Korea, a study has revealed.

The study entitled, “Issues and Challenges under the Employment Permit System (EPS)" conducted by Joyce Ann O. Dela Cruz in 2007, aimed to describe issues and challenges confronting Filipino workers in South Korea.

“The findings in the study could be of help in assessing EPS for future policy review," Dela Cruz said in an interview with GMANews.TV on Friday.

Korea’s Employment Permit System (EPS) is a government-to-government hiring scheme intended to curb the problem over illegal recruitment. South Korea’s labor ministry has increased by 20 percent the job roster quota of the Philippines in 2007 to 12,000, from 10,000 in 2006.

OFWs reach out

2008-08-10T04:29:00.000-07:00

News of ka-ilian Robert Degawan hit with stroke while in Korea comes in trying times to the life of an overseas contract worker and people around. Being a migrant worker, one gets out from the confines of home and be vulnerable to risks and uncertainties. That is, risks of being alone in a far away place when tragedy strikes as getting sick, abused, helpless, lonely, or in extremely unfortunate cases, death.

With no one familiar except one’s face in a strange land, the migrant worker first relies for help on friends and ka-ilian (townmate) within the immediate vicinity in times of distress.

I came to know of Robert’s case through a chat with an aunt who works in Korea as a factory worker. She also happens to be a relative by affinity of Robert. She attends the same Catholic church with Robert and other OFW - Cordillerans.

Below are some information which she shared to me which is relevant to any other migrant worker elsewhere in this world. Together with Roland ‘Balanza’ Bosaing who heads the Korea-based Sagada Migrant Workers Organization, they approached the help of another kailian who gave initial support for the patient’s hospital fees. Just like most hospitals today in the Philippines and elsewhere, this certain hospital in Korea apparently does not do the necessary operation until initial amount is given but that’s another story.

Back to migrant work.

In almost all places where migrant workers are found, the presence of an OFW organization helps. This is where immediate support in one way or another comes in. Robert is a member of the Sagada migrant workers organization and a former officer. The organization is now soliciting funds to help defray his hospital costs. Being a church member also helps. The Catholic priest in charge of the pastoral center, Fr Paul Cho, visits the patient and helps out in any which way he can. Also, ka-ilian find ways in how to reach out to their own relatives and ka-ilian.

Lynette, a Korea-based kailian migrant worker informed her uncle based in the US about Robert’s situation. The information found its way to the Saint Marys egroups to the desk of the Social Concerns office of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. ECP now coordinates with Shalom Center of the Anglican church based in Korea. First things first done, migrant workers now await support from relatives back home and institutions supposed to be attentive to migrant workers’ woes. Immediate relatives who most of the time are away from the victim, now have basic information how to respond to the situation. And so with institutions including the church and the respective Philippine Embassy.

With over eight million Filipino migrant workers who are abroad working as domestic helpers, construction workers, drivers, care givers, English teachers, and other low paid menial jobs in order to support their families, vulnerability to exploitation, distress, sickness and untimely death are close. This include other professional jobs such as nurses, dentists and engineers who are better located yet are still vulnerable to related migrant workers’ issues.

Such that the presence of support systems like a close circle of friends, an organization, the church, are immediate sources of support. In most cases, the employer is a source of problem thus had not been a support system to turn to.

It is at trying and difficult times that the Philippine Embassy located in each country have their responsibility to attend to the needs of migrant workers immediately.

Indeed, answering 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product, migrant workers sent $14.45 billion through banks in 2007 exceeding the central bank's target by $100 million.

Post your views on Comments on the link below and let others know.Or email me at ginadizon@yahoo.com

Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995

2008-08-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8042

An act to institute the policies of overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant workers, their families and overseas Filipinos in distress, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. - This act shall be known and cited as the "Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995."

SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF POLICIES--

(a) In the pursuit of an independent foreign policy and while considering national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest and the right to self-determination paramount in its relations with other states, the State shall, at all times, uphold the dignity of its citizens whether in country or overseas, in general, and Filipino migrant workers, in particular.

(b) The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all. Towards this end, the State shall provide adequate and timely social, economic and legal services to Filipino migrant workers.

(c) While recognizing the significant contribution of Filipino migrant workers to the national economy through their foreign exchange remittances, the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve national development. The existence of the overseas employment program rests solely on the assurance that the dignity and fundamental human rights and freedoms of the Filipino citizens shall not, at any time, be compromised or violated. The State, therefore, shall continuously create local employment opportunities and promote the equitable distribution of wealth and the benefits of development.

(d) The State affirms the fundamental equality before the law of women and men and the significant role of women in nation-building. Recognizing the contribution of overseas migrant women workers and their particular vulnerabilities, the State shall apply gender sensitive criteria in the formulation and implementation of policies and programs affecting migrant workers and the composition of bodies tasked for the welfare of migrant workers.

(e) Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate legal assistance shall not be denied to any persons by reason of poverty. In this regard, it is imperative that an effective mechanism be instituted to ensure that the rights and interest of distressed overseas Filipinos, in general, and Filipino migrant workers, in particular, documented or undocumented, are adequately protected and safeguarded.

(f) The right of Filipino migrant workers and all overseas Filipinos to participate in the democratic decision-making processes of the State and to be represented in institutions relevant to overseas employment is recognized and guaranteed.

(g) The State recognizes that the ultimate protection to all migrant workers is the possession of skills. Pursuant to this and as soon as practicable, the government shall deploy and/or allow the deployment only to skilled Filipino workers.

(h) Non-governmental organizations, duly recognized as legitimate, are partners of the State in the protection of Filipino migrant workers and in the promotion of their welfare, the State shall cooperate with them in a spirit of trust and mutual respect.

(I) Government fees and other administrative costs of recruitment, introduction, placement and assistance to migrant workers shall be rendered free without prejudice to the provision of Section 36 hereof.

Nonetheless, the deployment of Filipino overseas workers, whether land-based or sea-based by local service contractors and manning agencies employing them shall be encouraged. Appropriate incentives may be extended to them.