The Manila Times Internet Edition | OPINION >OWWA’s deficiencies: "Has OWWA really performed to the best of its well-paid officials’ and personnel’s abilities? Has that attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) satisfactorily done what the law requires it to do, and done what plain respect for the dignity of fellow Filipinos demands it should do for our OFWs and their dependents?
Unfortunately, the answer that must be given is NO.
For OWWA to do its job well is especially vital now in times of the OFWs’ great distress amid the global economic meltdown.
One OWWA failing that must immediately be brought up is the inadequacy of the help it gives OFWs in jail, many of them jailed unjustly. Many OFWs have been victimized by their employers. Some of them are victims of rape by the employers and fired when they protested or, worse, accused of crimes they did not commit."
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Southeast Asia - Migration News | Migration Dialogue
Southeast Asia - Migration News | Migration Dialogue: "Philippines. Almost 1.4 million Filipinos were deployed to overseas jobs in 2008, an average 3,800 a day and up significantly from 1.1 million in 2007. Remittances were $16.4 billion in 2008, up from $14.4 billion in 2007.
The unemployment rate in the Philippines approached eight percent in January 2009, almost three million, prompting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue Administrative Order 247 to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to 'execute a paradigm shift by refocusing its functions from regulation to full blast market development efforts, the exploration of frontier, fertile job markets for Filipino expatriate workers.'
The sharp rise in migrant deployments in 2008 could be followed by return migration in 2009, as last-hired workers are laid off. Over 6,000 Filipino migrants, mostly women working in electronics factories in Taiwan and men working on Middle Eastern construction projects, returned home before the end of the contracts in the first three months of 2009. The POEA dispatched teams to Taiwan, Dubai and Korea to help Filipino migrants who had been laid off.
Laid-off migrants who return to the Philippines are eligible for 10,000 peso ($210) grants to obtain training in opening a small business. After completing the training, graduates can obtain 50,000 peso loans at five percent to open a small business.
There are about 125,000 Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong, and they protested the POEA's ban on direct hiring in February 2009. Since 2007, domestic helpers headed to Hong Kong must use an approved recruiter, who cannot charge a recruitment fee but may charge training fees, which helpers say are P20,000 ($417) to P100,000."
The unemployment rate in the Philippines approached eight percent in January 2009, almost three million, prompting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue Administrative Order 247 to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to 'execute a paradigm shift by refocusing its functions from regulation to full blast market development efforts, the exploration of frontier, fertile job markets for Filipino expatriate workers.'
The sharp rise in migrant deployments in 2008 could be followed by return migration in 2009, as last-hired workers are laid off. Over 6,000 Filipino migrants, mostly women working in electronics factories in Taiwan and men working on Middle Eastern construction projects, returned home before the end of the contracts in the first three months of 2009. The POEA dispatched teams to Taiwan, Dubai and Korea to help Filipino migrants who had been laid off.
Laid-off migrants who return to the Philippines are eligible for 10,000 peso ($210) grants to obtain training in opening a small business. After completing the training, graduates can obtain 50,000 peso loans at five percent to open a small business.
There are about 125,000 Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong, and they protested the POEA's ban on direct hiring in February 2009. Since 2007, domestic helpers headed to Hong Kong must use an approved recruiter, who cannot charge a recruitment fee but may charge training fees, which helpers say are P20,000 ($417) to P100,000."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Economic downturn weighs on Filipino migrant laborers | International | Reuters
Economic downturn weighs on Filipino migrant laborers | International | Reuters: "In the case of Ang, after paying a recruitment agency 120,000 pesos (about $2,500) for a job at an electronics factory in Taiwan, she was retrenched within a year and is back in the Philippines without any work at all.
'I wanted to earn more money so I could build a house for my family, but that did not happen,' said Ang, 31, who gave up her job as a quality control officer at a garment factory near Manila for a job in Taiwan that paid four times her salary.
As the global economic crisis deepens, countries such as the Philippines, which are heavily reliant on remittances sent home by migrant workers, face the prospect that workers may return en masse after losing jobs in recession-hit economies abroad."
'I wanted to earn more money so I could build a house for my family, but that did not happen,' said Ang, 31, who gave up her job as a quality control officer at a garment factory near Manila for a job in Taiwan that paid four times her salary.
As the global economic crisis deepens, countries such as the Philippines, which are heavily reliant on remittances sent home by migrant workers, face the prospect that workers may return en masse after losing jobs in recession-hit economies abroad."
Global economic downturn putting migrants at risk: Ban
Global economic downturn putting migrants at risk: Ban: "United Nations, Dec 18 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed that migrants were highly vulnerable to the global economic crisis.”The world’s more than 200 million migrants are especially vulnerable to the financial downturn shaking the global economy,” Ban said on the occasion of the International Migrants day.
“The crisis in markets has put them (migrants) at greater risk of destitution, stigmatization, discrimination and abuse. Reports of layoffs and lower remittances only begin to tell the story of the human suffering that this crisis has wrought,” he said in a statement issued to the press.
“Moreover, migration policies are growing ever more restrictive. We continue to see the criminalisation of irregular migrants. And all too often, migrants are being dealt with primarily from the perspective of security."
“The crisis in markets has put them (migrants) at greater risk of destitution, stigmatization, discrimination and abuse. Reports of layoffs and lower remittances only begin to tell the story of the human suffering that this crisis has wrought,” he said in a statement issued to the press.
“Moreover, migration policies are growing ever more restrictive. We continue to see the criminalisation of irregular migrants. And all too often, migrants are being dealt with primarily from the perspective of security."
Labor export still R.P. ace, economists say
Labor export still R.P. ace, economists say: "Arroyo’s data showed that Taiwan accounted for the highest number of OFWs (78.7 percent of the total 6,405) recorded to have lost their jobs since the US declared its economy in recession last year. Still, Arroyo told reporters after his talk, he sees the displacement of workers in the country and abroad as bottoming out.
“We expect [the economy’s performance in] Q4 to be more vibrant, coming from a stronger Q3, mainly because of additional employment,” Arroyo said.
He cited as example the jobs that the market requires in the near future: 15,000 to 20,000 in Guam due to the transfer of the US base from Osaka, Japan; and 60,000 in Saudi Arabia as that country is building five mega-cities and prefer Filipino labor."
“We expect [the economy’s performance in] Q4 to be more vibrant, coming from a stronger Q3, mainly because of additional employment,” Arroyo said.
He cited as example the jobs that the market requires in the near future: 15,000 to 20,000 in Guam due to the transfer of the US base from Osaka, Japan; and 60,000 in Saudi Arabia as that country is building five mega-cities and prefer Filipino labor."
OFWs face a bleak future as global crisis hits companies worldwide – Davao Today
OFWs face a bleak future as global crisis hits companies worldwide – Davao Today: "Migrante International, a global group assisting Filipino migrant workers, said some of the retrenched OFWs in Taiwan were intimidated into signing agreements that were disadvantageous to them. Migrante cited the case of 162 retrenched OFWs from Walton Advanced Engineering Inc. (WAIE).
A Taiwanese broker reportedly told the WAEI workers they would not get any separation pay nor provisions for food and airfare to the Philippines if they refused to sign the agreement.
He also reminded the workers that they’d have to pay 20 percent income tax if they stayed for less than 183 days in Taiwan, a policy of Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance. Most of the retrenched workers were employed only for four to six months in Taiwan, hence, were scared to incur additional expenses.
Migrante said the rate of retrenchments in Taiwan has become so alarming that the number of retrenched workers may go over the 11,000 earlier projected by Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs this year."
A Taiwanese broker reportedly told the WAEI workers they would not get any separation pay nor provisions for food and airfare to the Philippines if they refused to sign the agreement.
He also reminded the workers that they’d have to pay 20 percent income tax if they stayed for less than 183 days in Taiwan, a policy of Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance. Most of the retrenched workers were employed only for four to six months in Taiwan, hence, were scared to incur additional expenses.
Migrante said the rate of retrenchments in Taiwan has become so alarming that the number of retrenched workers may go over the 11,000 earlier projected by Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs this year."
Pace of remittance growth slows to 3% in March
"Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas reached a record $1.47 billion in March, but the pace of growth has slowed to 3.04 percent as traditionally strong remittance sources, like the US and the Middle East, contracted or were flat."
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