Overseas Filipinos

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2012-05-01T01:37:00.001+08:00

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Hong Kong has highest overseas absentee voting registrants

2012-04-24T12:38:00.000+08:00

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 17,486 Filipinos in Hong Kong have registered to vote in next year’s elections as of Aug. 5, the highest turnout worldwide, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Quoting a report from the Philippine Consulate General, the DFA said the overseas voter registration in Hong Kong was conducted in several banks and remittance companies since July this year.

Last July 30, the DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat reported that Los Angeles registered a total of 8,884 voters; Dubai 8,542; and Singapore 6,926.

This year, the number of registered overseas voters worldwide has reached 157,398, surpassing the 2005/2006 figure of 142,667, the report added.

The DFA said the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong will conduct more field registrations at the Epiphany Parish Mass Centre and the St. Matthew’s Church in Tuen Mun.

Previous field registrations were held in Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Ma On Shan, Sai Kung, Tai Po, Shatin, and Tsing Yi in the New Territories; DPCF and St. Joseph’s Church in Central; Chai Wan and Sheung Wan in Hong Kong Island; Hung Hom, Hang Hau, Kowloon Tong, Prince Edward and Choi Hung Estate in Kowloon; and Cheung Chau Island and Discovery Bay in Lantau Island.

Filipinos in Hong Kong have until Aug. 31 to register to vote in next year’s elections, the DFA said.

The Blas Ople Center has reported that the number of registered absentee voters has exceeded 170,000 worldwide.

Susan Ople, center head, said their goal is to boost the number of registered overseas voters.

They have organized a forum that would enable OFWs to get to know presidential candidates up close and personal, she added.

OFWs and their families will meet online five presidentiables in a two-hour forum, “Usapan OFW: A Leader Forum” tonight, Ople said.

Ople said Senators Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Jamby Madrigal and Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio are set to join the forum from 4 to 6 p.m. at ABS-CBN in Quezon City, she said.

Ople said the program will be aired live on dzMM Teleradyo (Channel 26 on SkyCable) with replays on The Filipino Channel, she added. – Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin, philstar., August 15, 2009

All about overseas absentee voting

2012-04-24T12:14:00.000+08:00

MANILA, Philippines?Overseas absentee voters have between April 10 to 6 p.m. (Manila time) of May 10 to pick their choices for president, vice president, 12 senators, and party list.

As with the rest of the ballots cast by Filipino voters in the Philippines, OAV ballots will be counted nonstop and relayed to the Commission on Elections.

Of the 8.1 million Filipinos spread around the world (workers, residents), only 589,830 overseas Filipinos are registered for the May 2010 national elections.

There are a total of 215,546 voters in the Asia Pacific, 66,745 in the Americas, 61,294 in Europe, 225,148 in the Middle East and Africa, and 21,097 seafarers. Sea-based Filipino workers may personally vote at the embassy or consulate provided the Comelec and the Department of Foreign Affairs? Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA OAVS) have identified international sea ports under their jurisdiction.

PCOS only in HK, Singapore

One hundred two diplomatic posts (embassies and consulates) will have postal voting and 70 posts will have personal voting (voter has to cast his ballot at the embassy or consulate).

For the first time, 127,206 overseas Filipino workers will vote using the new automated voting system in Hong Kong and Singapore, with 95,355 and 31,851 voters, respectively.

Civil society organizations like the Center for Migrant Advocacy have been advocating for the recognition of overseas Filipinos? voting rights from the late ?80s until the passage of the Overseas Absentee Voting Law in 2003 and until the past two national elections in 2004 and 2007 when it was finally implemented.

Informing voters

Unfortunately, while voter turnout in 2004 was 65 percent, it plunged to only 16 percent in 2007 for various reasons, including the backlash of the ?Hello Garci? scandal of 2004, the lack of information campaigns, the discriminatory and disenfranchising affidavit requirement from Filipino immigrants and permanent residents in other countries to return to the Philippines to establish domicile within three years from registration, voter-unfriendly post staff on top of inaccessible embassies and consulates and fast turnover of staff.

What is urgent now is that all stakeholders help inform and enable the most number of registrants to vote with conscience. The Hong Kong consulate is a model in reaching out to its constituency.

Daphne Ceniza-Kuok, a volunteer of the Special Board of Election Inspectors in Hong Kong, said the consulate has talked with the banks in Worldwide House, located near Chater Garden in Central Hong Kong where Filipino migrants congregate every Sunday, to allow their monitors to show CDs on automated voting. It has also talked to Smart 1528 Barkadahan and Vodaphone to conduct text blasts to inform its around 60,000 subscribers on the location of the polling places. OAV will also be discussed in the three Filipino radio programs. Almost 80 percent (95,355) of Filipinos in Hong Kong are registered voters. It is no wonder that many candidates troop there to court their votes.

Voting by mail

In Taiwan, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office mailed out information on the elections to its constituency as did the embassy in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, the consulates in New York and San Francisco and other posts. The Comelec admitted that it did not have a budget for information campaigns. Thus, CMA printed 50,000 flyers (separate flyers for personal, for postal and for automated voting) in addition to 1,500 posters. The center disseminated these to its partner organizations abroad like the Geneva Forum for Philippine Concerns in Switzerland, Damayan in Belgium, and Kasapi in Greece. The CMA also sent these to the different Philippine embassies and consulates abroad in partnership with the DFA OAVS.

In comparison, 11 percent of around a million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia are registered voters who have to go to either the embassy in Riyadh or the consulate in Jeddah or the field polling place in Al Khobar, under the supervision of the embassy in Riyadh. OFWs there are hampered by the lack of available mass public transport to go to the polling centers. Women OFWs are particularly affected because they are not allowed to travel alone.

How to get high turnout

But first, the government has to address key problems revealed in the last two elections to invite more confidence in the electoral exercise and inspire other stakeholders to support its efforts at enjoining overseas Filipinos to vote between April and May. For one, its registration and voter turnout targeting have to be backed with the budget to realize it. The diplomatic posts should be more proactive in reaching out to the Filipino communities and organizations to inform them about the elections, especially in Singapore where the new automated voting system is a very challenging prospect. Who staffs the post has a lot to do with the success of overseas absentee voting there.

Feedback from Filipinos in Japan has it that the posts there are not voter-friendly in terms of both location and personnel as the law is not voter-friendly either. It requires personal registration. In contrast, as evidenced by the registration and voter turnout in Hong Kong, the high momentum of Filipino organizers there complements the consulate?s efforts at making the elections a success.

Using YouTube

Other stakeholders have to contribute what they can to help government inform and enable the most number of registrants to vote wisely.

Many Filipino organizations abroad reproduce voter information materials out of their own pockets, understanding the urgency of informing kababayans abroad about the mechanics of voting as well as their right to vote and to participate in Philippine governance.

In the Middle East, Patnubay.com in partnership with the CMA came out with a video post for YouTube in time for the start of the overseas voting. In the US, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations and other Filipino organizations have been holding meetings to inform Filipinos in the US about the upcoming elections. In Switzerland, the UP Alumni Association and the Geneva Forum for Philippine Concerns have been active in the information campaign since the voter registration period.

Here in the Philippines, the Scalabrinian Lay Association and the CMA have been reaching out to Balik Manggagawa at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. The CMA and Task Force 2010 try to maximize the use of the media to help inform overseas Filipinos directly and through their families left behind.

Come May 10

But more support is needed during the actual voting up to the counting stages.

In the past two elections, Filipino organizations in the Middle East negotiated with company owners to provide transport to enable their Filipino employees to vote. Both government and civil society can still maximize the use of the multimedia to reach out to kababayans worldwide.

On the part of overseas Filipinos themselves and civil society, proactive citizenship is the call of the times while we continue policy advocacy. In addition, Namfrel also calls on volunteers among Filipinos abroad to help out in its parallel counting and to help in other ways to ensure honest elections.

There is a lot to do still to make overseas Filipino voters a significant voters? bloc. The law is still new. But for as long as all stakeholders incorporate into succeeding practice what is learned from each implementation of the law, for sure and soon, Filipinos abroad will be a force to reckon with, not only during elections but in the whole of Philippine political life.

OFWs by the numbers

8.1 million: estimated number of overseas Filipinos around the world (as of December 2008)

589,830: total of registered overseas Filipino voters around the world

1 million: estimated number of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia

111,549: registered voters

155,317: estimated number of Filipinos in Hong Kong

95,355: registered voters

Rhodora A. Abano, Center for Migrant Advocacy
Philippine Daily Inquirer, 04/11/2010

4 trafficked Filipinas rescued in Malaysia

2012-04-21T19:13:00.000+08:00

MANILA, Philippines—Four Filipinas forced to work as bar girls in a southern Malaysian state have been rescued, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur reported.

“The four were locked up and forced to work in a night club in Johor Baru, some 220 kilometers away from Kuala Lumpur and is near the Malaysian border with Singapore,” the embassy said in a statement.

The four trafficked women were rescued on April 19 by members of the Royal Malaysia Police, through its Criminal Investigation Division-Anti-Human Trafficking Section and the embassy, it said.

The victims, all Metro Manila residents, were allegedly recruited and escorted by a certain Ramil Garcia from Manila to Zamboanga. They then travelled by boat to Sandakan in Sabah, with the promise of high-paying jobs in Malaysia, the embassy said.

Upon arrival in Sandakan, Garcia turned them over to a certain Norminda Buko Whigan for ”sale” to night club owners as “customer service workers,” it said. They only learned about the real nature of their work when they reached Sandakan.

After a two-week stay in Sandakan and no offers from club owners there, the four Filipinas were transported by plane to Johor Bahru in West Malaysia on March 29 and offered to a certain club owner Emy Wong.

They were locked up at the Wong residence and made to work at the club the following day.

The four women, with ages between 27 to 36, eventually were able to ask for help from the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and others, which alerted the embassy.

“In the evening of April 18, Malaysian CID agents, accompanied by two embassy officials, proceeded to Johor Bahru in West Malaysia and raided the club,” the embassy said.

But the club owner had left, together with the Filipinas, minutes before the raiding team came.

The team then proceeded to the Wong residence, where the Filipinas were found locked up, and rescued them. But Wong could not be found and police arrested her husband, who was in the house.

The Filipinas were then brought before a local judge, who issued an interim protection order, and are now in a shelter run by Malaysian police and welfare authorities. They will later be turned over to the embassy for repatriation to Manila.

The embassy lauded the quick action undertaken by the Malaysian police.

“We appreciate the swift action of the Malaysian police in rescuing our nationals. This is proof of the commitment and partnership of our two countries against human trafficking,” Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya said.

“Coming right after the conviction of Alfred Lim (Eugene Beng Hua Lim), this latest rescue is another clear indicator of the commitment and partnership of our two countries against human trafficking,” Malaya said.

On March 30, Lim, a Singaporean national, was convicted by the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur for two counts of human trafficking, and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment for each count. This was after two Filipinas who fled his placement agency filed complaints against him in July 2009, after enduring prolonged periods of abuse and maltreatment.

The embassy reminded Filipinos to be aware of the modus operandi of trafficking syndicates, so as to protect themselves from becoming victims.

“Our Filipinos should already beware anytime they are made to exit through the ‘back door’ in the Tawi-Tawi area without proper documentations. In most likelihood, they are being trafficked already,” it said. - INQUIRER.net , 5:38 pm | Saturday, April 21st, 2012

‘Ang Tanging Ina Mo’ is a masterpiece of a movie

2011-01-07T16:55:00.000+08:00

“Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)" looks at the Filipino diaspora. Three children of Ina are now scattered abroad. Her eldest son Juan, played competently by Marvin Agustin, went to New Zealand to work.

January 06, 2011 - TRUTH is stranger than fiction, so they say, but in the case of “Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)" and the two other earlier movies in this trilogy, it is fiction that became the vehicle for exposing the truth about the Philippines. That is why this work by award-winning director Wenn Deramas is a masterpiece.

“Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)" from Star Cinema won the most awards in the latest Metro Manila Film Festival, which ends Friday. It garnered the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Scriptwriter, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress awards, among others, raising not a few eyebrows in the process. It is also one of the top three biggest earners at the box office.

The film is a timely comedy of manners and a funny social commentary of our chaotic country. In short, this movie is subversive. But we can only see the hilarious and marvelous magnitude of this work when we consider the three movies that make up the trilogy.

The first “Tanging Ina" was released in 2003 while the sequel, “Ang Tanging Ina Nyong Lahat" was released in 2008. The trilogy is the story of Ina Montecillo, played excellently by Ai-Ai de las Alas who certainly deserves to win the Best Actress award for her performance in the latest movie.

In the first film, Ina goes through a roller-coaster ride of a life because of the death of her first three husbands. At first she was rich because one of her husbands left her a bus company. But then the bus company got bankrupt when it was mismanaged by her third husband, who also died very early in their marriage. Ina was left to take care of her one dozen children from her three marriages. Her life was hard but because of her industry, her brood survived.

In the second film, in a bizarre but wonderful twist of fate, Ina became the president of the Republic of the Philippines. As a chambermaid in the presidential palace, she was the one who discovered the assassination plot against the president. When the president was killed, Ina became a celebrity as a state witness and found herself running for the presidency. She won, and so her big family invaded Malacañang Palace, making her “the mother of the nation."

This latest sequel started a few months after Ina left her post as the president of the Philippines. Ina is now a celebrity in her own right, having published her memoir and graced many ribbon-cutting ceremonies – from the launching of restaurants to the opening of funeral parlors and purified water stations. The family went back to live in their old house. Her long-time best friend, Rowena, played by equally excellent comedienne Eugene Domingo, still lives with them and now acts as Ina’s appointments secretary. Of course, Ina still enjoys the protection of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

Parody of Philippine society

The trilogy is really a parody of our country.

The first installment was a sharp commentary about the acute state of unemployment in the Philippines: Ina walks the whole stretch of EDSA and passes by the statue of Our Lady of EDSA, looking for a job. After trying to sell pirated DVDs and being caught by the police, she ended up working as a performer together with transvestites in a seedy pub.

The second film tackles government corruption, which really starts in the hallowed halls of Malacañang. Of course in reality, a Malacañang housemaid like Ina will never become president. But since this is fiction, everything is possible in a funny way, highlighting the irony in the ugly reality that the top leadership in this country is often reserved for the scions of traditional politicians, hacienderos, and the compradors.

“Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)" looks at the Filipino diaspora. Three children of Ina are now scattered abroad. Her eldest son Juan, played competently by Marvin Agustin, went to New Zealand to work. But then he gets victimized by illegal recruiters, so he goes home penniless. Since he is too ashamed to face his family, he continues pretending to be in New Zealand until Ina sees him wandering the streets of Metro Manila and brings him home.

In this latest incarnation of the successful franchise, Ina accidentally falls from the roof of a building and while in the hospital, the doctor discovers that she has cancer with barely a year to live. She cannot bear to tell her children the bad news, and in her remaining days, she tries to strengthen the relationships of her children who are now starting to fight over money and other trivial matters.

While Ina is supposed to be dying in the hospital, a new doctor discovers that she has no cancer and she is not going to die soon. The family is happy again. It is only fitting that Ina, the central character of this trilogy, will remain alive.

Made for Pinoy film fans

One thing I like about the “Tanging Ina" trilogy is that it was not made for foreign audiences, unlike many of the pretentious indie films that are designed to win awards, or at least get screened, in film festivals abroad. The trilogy is full of allusions to other Filipino movies, such that if you are not familiar with the melodramatic films of Sharon Cuneta and Vilma Santos, you will not understand the jokes in many scenes.

Senior and upcoming directors must take their cue from Deramas: Make movies and films for Filipino audiences and not for foreign film critics who will only romanticize poverty in the Philippines, or worse, portray Filipino culture as exotic.

As usual, Eugene Domingo is outstanding. There is no doubt that she is the best Pinay comedian in the country. She can make the audience roll on the floor laughing just with her wit. She is lovable and adorable.

The handsome and gorgeous Piolo Pascual made a surprise cameo appearance at the end of the film: He is the new PSG guy protecting Ina Montecillo, she who survived it all and deserves all these blessings.

I just hope that “Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)" is really the last in the series. I don’t want to see this film, about the wonderful Filipino mother Ina Montecillo, go down the tiresome path followed by “Shake Rattle and Roll" and “Mano Po."

Filipino film goers should be thankful to the brilliant actors Ai-Ai de las Alas and Eugene Domingo, scriptwriter Mel del Rosario, and director Wenn Deramas for creating the crazy world of Ina Montecillo, which is really the real world that we inhabit in the Philippines.

The trilogy made us laugh. Hopefully, after our laughter, we would begin to think of how to save our “Inang Bayan," which, come to think of it, is really our “Tanging Inang Bayang Filipinas." – J.I.E. TEODORO, YA, GMANews.TV

J.I.E. TEODORO is an assistant professor of Filipino at Miriam College in Quezon City. He has won several Palanca awards for his works and a National Book Award for creative nonfiction from the Manila Critics Circle and the National Book Development Board. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from De La Salle University-Manila.

A Cup Half Full: The incredible optimism of a poor Filipino boy

2011-01-03T17:13:00.000+08:00

Jan 2, 2011: PUERTO GALERA, Philippines - Although the Philippines remained relatively stable during the recent global recession, poverty has increased over the past two decades with over 32 percent of the population currently living below the poverty line.

“It’s good to start life being poor,” said young Gary Clemenso to one of his friends. “Imagine being born rich and then becoming poor. … Wouldn’t that be worse?” he asks.

Gary’s simple logic is quite puzzling for me, and I was surprised me to hear such a statement coming from a 16-year-old whose family numbers among the Philippine’s poor.

Read the full story here.

Job prospects abroad remain bright - DOLE

2011-01-01T13:02:00.002+08:00

January 01, 2011: MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday that employment prospects abroad remained bright for construction workers and other highly skilled Filipino workers in the coming year.

Labor Undersecretary Danny Cruz said at least 10,000 jobs await Filipino construction and other skilled workers in Guam in the next five years with the planned construction of new US military facilities there.

“The construction of huge US military facilities is expected to open job opportunities for Filipinos in the third quarter of this year, but the hiring of workers may start earlier because there are other buildings to be constructed aside from the military facilities,” Cruz disclosed.

Cruz noted that the construction of military facilities suffered a minor setback due to financial difficulties, but he said the project would definitely start this year.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Jennifer Manalili also reported that Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries are also expected to hire more Filipino construction and other workers this year.

“There are a lot of job opportunities for Filipino workers in the Middle East because of the construction boom which is expected to continue until 2020,” Manalili pointed out.

Manalili said new hospitals are also set to open in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and thus expected to generate more employment for Filipino health workers in 2011.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz also reported that employers from Malta have expressed their desire to hire more Filipino caregivers.

Citing reports from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), Baldoz said many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) now working in Malta are getting high salaries.

“Malta’s minimum wage is 620 euro ($820) and Filipino workers there receive not less than this minimum wage amount. Besides, Filipino workers in Malta are allowed to do part-time jobs after eight hours of regular work,” Baldoz said.

Baldoz, however, warned jobseekers desiring to work abroad to check their prospective employers, as well as their recruitment agencies, with the POEA to ensure that there are valid job orders and that they would undergo legal application and deployment processes.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator, said new employment policies in the UAE and other countries in the Middle East could slow down hiring of OFWs in 2011.

Monterona said that the UAE government is implementing 20 percent job reservation for its nationals as part of its labor market reforms.

“This week, the UAE labor ministry has been cited in various local news reports that it will require all companies to have at least one-fifth of their staff as Emirate citizens,” Monterona disclosed.

He added that the UAE labor ministry is also expected to implement a quota system in hiring expatriate workers in line with its aim boosting employment of its citizens over foreign workers.

Monterona said UAE has been hard hit by the global crisis, thus it is opting to enforce labor market reforms that would lessen the impact on its citizens.

He said that Saudi Arabia is also implementing a “Saudization” program requiring private companies to hire its citizens up to about five percent of total staff.

“If Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been in the 1st and 2nd place, respectively, of the top ten destinations of OFWs from 2003 to 2009, since these countries are now introducing labor market reforms geared towards more restrictions, then we are seeing a dim prospect of OFW deployment by 2011,” Monterona said.

OFW legal fund

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. said the department’s legal assistance fund could now be used to prosecute erring and abusive employers of OFWs.

Conejos said the utilization of the legal assistance fund was specified for payment of certain fees but it can now be used to go after employers of OFWs.

“We can now use it to prosecute erring and abusive employers not only as defense, bail bonds or litigation funds,” Conejos said.

He said that the balance of the funds in the previous year will not revert to the National Treasury but will be added to the budget for the present year.

“According to DBM (Department of Budget and Management) we will implement that so it will have the minimum of P30 million appropriation from Congress plus balances from the previous year so we should be okay,” he added.

Conejos admitted a reduced budget after the DFA agreed to the slashing of the legal assistance fund despite increasing cases of distressed OFWs.

“But the important thing is we gave them the assurance that even with a reduced budget we can continue to provide sufficient, adequate service to our OFWs,” he said

The United Filipinos in Hong Kong said cutting the legal assistance fund for OFWs from P50 million to P27 million showed the Aquino government is willing to leave OFWs rotting in prison.

The Migrant Workers’ Act requires a P100-million revolving legal assistance fund for distressed workers under the DFA.

The Blas F. Ople Center said Republic Act No. 10022 that amended the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995 mandates the DFA to use its legal assistance fund to file charges against foreign employers and agencies abroad in behalf of aggrieved Filipino workers.

Meanwhile, the labor department is coming out with a new “anti-contractualization” policy this year in an apparent effort to stop massive job losses.

Nicon Fameronag, Labor Communication Office director, said the department plans to issue a new regulation replacing DOLE Order No. 18-02.

“Consultation in the different regions are already being undertaken with the end goal of revising DO 1082,” Fameronag said.

Under the Arroyo presidency, the department issued Order No. 1082 allowing contractualization of jobs, except in the so-called “labor only contracting” category.

Labor groups opposed the contractualization, claiming it equates security of tenure to having a definite contract instead of the regular and permanent status previously enjoyed by workers.

Even the influential Catholic Church objected to the continuing mass termination of workers as more employers nationwide preferred to hire contractual workers to save on operational cost.

For the past years, trade unions have called on the government to seriously look at what they described as violation of trade union and human rights.

Fameronag said Labor Secretary Baldoz hopes to come out with a new policy to address the issue of contractualization.

“DOLE wants a policy that is more relevant, but definitely the new measure would not allow contractualization,” Fameronag disclosed.

Fameronag said the policies would be compliant with the International Labor Organization Conventions on the Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining.

With the resumption of the inspections next week, Fameronag said, DOLE would also intensify monitoring of establishments to prevent employers from practicing contractualization.

He said DOLE has expanded the labor inspection program, which now includes occupational health and contractualization practices to ensure workers’ health and rights are properly protected. – Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star), With Pia Lee-Brago

Banks urged to cut remittance fees

2011-01-01T13:01:00.000+08:00

December 31, 2010: MANILA, Philippines – The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas wants banks to further reduce remittance fees, urging them to consider the welfare of families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“The remittance fees can go down further; banks have leeway to cut the rates,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo told reporters before the holiday break.

The central bank executive said reducing remittance charges would encourage OFWs to send more money to their beneficiaries. Remittances are a big boost to the Philippine economy, fueling household consumption.

In the first 10 months of the year, remittances reached $15.5 billion—up 7.9 percent year-on-year.

Banks’ remittance fees range from P150 to P550 per transaction, depending on the amount of remittance and the country of origin.

But a few banks that have started to use the Philippine payment and settlement system (PhilPaSS) of the BSP now charge only P50 per transaction, the central bank said.

PhilPass, an electronic system that clears check payments to and from banks the BSP regulates, has been designed specifically to bring down remittance costs.

A bank that hooks up to the PhilPaSS may electronically send remittance to a branch near the location of a recipient. This way, banks need no longer have to hire couriers to deliver remittances received at the head offices.

The BSP expects remittances sent through formal channels (banks, registered money transfer companies) to continue to grow in 2011, specifically to reach over $20 billion. Michelle V. Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer

34 in recruitment scheme face raps for fraud

2010-12-27T21:35:00.003+08:00

September 24, 2010 - THIRTY-FOUR persons, including three foreign nationals, were charged Tuesday for allegedly defrauding at least 19 jobseekers, mostly nurses, of P300,000 each, in exchange for high-paying jobs in the United Kingdom.

Charged with syndicated and large scale illegal recruitment and estafa in the Makati Prosecutor’s Office were Timothy Malcolm Sargeant, 53, and Karen Denise Wood, 38, both British nationals; Kenyan Paul Maundu Nyamai, 33, and the Filipino staff of the employment agency International Student Advisors 4U Inc. (ISA).

The suspects were arrested by operatives of the Anti-Transnational Crime Division of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group during an entrapment operation in their office at Mavenue Building, Guerrero Street, Makati Avenue, Makati City.

Senior Supt. Gilbert Sosa, chief of the CIDG-ATCD, said several other officials and employees of ISA are still at large, including the owners, Philip Leonard, a British national, and his wife, Bernalyn Nacionales-Leonard.

Also named respondents were officials and employees of Faces and Shots Video Editing Inc. and Sir Philip Leonard Learning Center Inc.

Sosa said ISA, Faces and Shots Video Editing Inc. and Sir Philip Leonard Learning Center Inc. serve as one-stop shops for illegal recruitment activities of the respondents through a student visa scheme.

Under its Securities and Exchange Commission registration, the agency is only limited to providing advisory and marketing consultancy services for training college and university courses in foreign countries.

However, on their official website, the firm reportedly advertises their capability to bring nurses and health care professionals to the UK on a “Study and Work” program.

Many of the complainants said they applied for on-the-job training offered by the company because it promised big salaries as nurses and caregivers in the UK.

Each was required to pay amounts ranging from P300,000 to P650,000.

A verification with the POEA showed that the respondents and ISA were not authorized to recruit and deploy workers abroad. - Tina Santos, Philippine Daily Inquirer

3 illegal recruitment victims return home

2010-12-27T21:30:00.001+08:00

April 20, 2009, MANILA, Philippines – Three Filipinas who were victims of illegal recruitment and sex trafficking in west African nation of Ivory Coast were rescued by the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) and returned to their families on Monday.

On board flight EK334 from Dubai, Abby, Rose and Marie (not their real names) arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at around 2 a.m., said Senator Richard Gordon, who also chairs the PNRC.

The three were recruited by Mirasol and Arnold Granada with a promise of earning as much as P 150,000 a month as cashiers in Ivory Coast, Gordon said.

But upon their arrival, their passports were reportedly confiscated in the airport, he said.

As a result, the victims were forced to work at Ilongo Bar, a night club owned by a certain Noemi Carnaje Shen, who is also a Filipina, he said.

According to Abby, her refusal to work in the night club allegedly prompted her employers to lock her inside a room without being given food. Using their mobile phones, the victims sought the help of their families, Gordon said.

The PNRC coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the immediate rescue of the three overseas workers and their immediate repatriation, he said.

Gordon said he also sought the assistance of the Red Cross Society of Ivory Coast to assess the situation and condition of the three to extend whatever assistance they needed, he said.

Immediately upon their arrival in Manila, the three victims underwent stress debriefing to avoid post-traumatic stress disorder and were given medical assistance, he said.

“The OFWs [Overseas Filipina Workers] were complaining of body pain due to some physical abuse and lack of food for several days so we immediately conducted general check-up. We also provided meals and offered them the PNRC hostel for their temporary shelter,” said PNRC Social Services Manager Zenaida Beltejar.

PNRC Social Services also contacted the three victims’ relatives.

“Welfare of our OFWs is one of the major concerns of the PNRC. We are going to extend all possible help we could provide to them especially when they are ill-treated in other countries,” said PNRC secretary general Gwen Pang. - Abigail Kwok, INQUIRER.net

97 victims of illegal recruitment rescued

2010-12-27T21:21:00.000+08:00

June 17, 2009, MANILA, Philippines—Police on Tuesday rescued 97 victims of illegal recruitment after months of being forced to stay inside a training center in Manila, a police official said on Wednesday.

Director Raul Castaneda, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said the victims were rescued at Da Farmers Training Center Corporation in San Andres Bukid, Sta. Ana, where they were forced to stay while waiting for their papers to be processed.

Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, chief of the CIDG Anti-Transnational Crime Division, said the victims were brought from remote villages around the country to Manila with the promise of jobs in the Middle East particularly in Dubai, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait.

The recruitment firm, Al-Alamia International Manpower Services, is owned by a certain Ma. Dolores Elanany.

"They have been in the center for several months already and have incurred lots of expenses for their documents and yet it was unclear whether their trip will push through," Sosa said.

Earlier, 22 other victims of the firm approached the police for assistance.

Police, however, failed to arrest the owner of the recruitment agency.

The rescued victims of the recruitment firm were brought to the Visayan Forum Foundation.

Castaneda said police will be filing charges of violation of Republic Act 8042 (Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995), RA 9208 (Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003), and Article 315 (swindling) of the Revised Penal Code. - Abigail Kwok, INQUIRER.net

DFA warns about new recruitment scam

2010-12-27T21:18:00.002+08:00

January 11, 2010, MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs has warned Filipinos seeking jobs abroad about a new recruitment scam which the Philippine embassy in Germany uncovered.

In a statement, the DFA said two Filipinos contacted the embassy for help in verifying the status of a company named Markel-Power International, located in the northern German city of Bremen, which had informed the two through e-mail that they would be hired by the firm.

But the company had one condition for the jobs. They first had to pay 70 euros (about P4,600) through Western Union to an employment company based in Monza, a city in Italy’s Lombardy region.

The Philippine embassy discovered that Markel-Power International was non-existent, was not registered with the Bremen Chamber of Commerce and Industry, had a fictitious address, had no telephone and fax numbers, and was using a host in the United States for its English website.

“The embassy is convinced this recruitment scheme is another variation of the Nigerian 4-1-9 advance-fee scam designed to victimize innocent Filipino jobseekers,” chargé d’affaires Christine Queenie Mangunay said.

The Nigerian 4-1-9 scam, also known as the Nigerian advance-fee scheme, involves the receipt of an unsolicited letter allegedly from a Nigerian Central Bank employee or from the Nigerian government. It is named after the section of the Nigerian penal code which tackles fraudulent schemes.

The embassy has warned Filipino jobseekers of the new scam and has asked the DFA to bring the matter to the attention of relevant authorities such as the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Justice and Philippine National Police.

Meanwhile, an overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) group yesterday called on the Philippine government to do something about the “unabated” illegal recruitment of OFWs to Macau.

Cynthia Tellez, executive director of the Mission for Migrant Workers (MFMW) based in Hong Kong, said the Philippine government was ignoring the victims of illegal recruitment.

MFMW called on the government to provide immediate assistance, such as temporary shelter, legal counsel and air passage, to all victims of illegal recruitment, and to arrest and prosecute all illegal recruiters of Filipinos in Macau.

According to Tellez, MFMW handled nearly 50 OFWs who were victims of illegal recruitment to Macau in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Thirteen OFWs had sought the assistance of the Filipino Catholic Pastoral Center and Migrante Macau. Tellez said the group sought the assistance of the Philippine consulate on Jan. 5.

“We were told by the assistance to nationals section officer that we cannot get any assistance from them and they even blamed us for our plight,” Tellez quoted one of the OFWs, Rico Cabangon, as saying. - Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Foreigner faces deportation on illegal recruitment raps

2010-12-27T21:07:00.001+08:00

April 07, 2010, MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration has started deportation proceedings against a foreigner arrested for large scale illegal recruitment in Palawan, Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.

Ehmad Agha a.k.a. Salim Jan Iftikha, identified as a Pakistani national and currently detained in Bicutan, was declared an undesirable and undocumented alien following his and Filipina wife’s Emy Encinas arrest last March 23 by the Puerto Princesa police, the immigration chief said.

Immigration Area Office (IAO) Region 5 Director Jose Tria said Iftikha was the subject of complaints by 11 Filipinos in Palawan who were allegedly victimized by the couple in their illegal recruitment racket.

Tria said the Pakistani could not present his passport or any travel document from the time he was arrested.

The 11 complainants alleged that they were convinced by Iftikha and his wife to give P20, 000 each in return for their employment overseas.

The complainants sought the help of the police when they learned that the couple was planning to leave the country without notice.

Upon investigation, Iftikha claimed that he was a Pakistani and British citizen and that he arrived in the country sometime in July or August last year.

Verification of Iftikha’s claim, however, showed that the name of the suspect did not appear in the computerized travel records of the BI, arousing suspicion that he illegally entered the country via the backdoor. - Tetch Torres, INQUIRER.net

Jordanian arrested for illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T21:04:00.000+08:00

June 12, 2009, MANILA, Philippines—Immigration agents have arrested a Jordanian man accused of running an illegal recruitment operation in the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

Faris Al-Kawadri, 29, was nabbed Monday inside his hotel room in Makati City, the bureau’s intelligence and security chief, Alberto Braganza, said.

The agency said Al-Kawadri was responsible for the illegal deployment of Filipino women to Middle East.

The BI official said they found the passports of three women from Mindanao in the suspect’s room.

“He will thus be deported for working here without the required permit and visa and for being an undesirable alien,” Braganza said.

When asked about the passports, Al-Kawadri said the travel documents were given to him by a placement agency based in Ermita for processing. The three women who owned the passports were supposed to leave for Saudi Arabia as contract workers, he said.

Aside from the illegal recruitment charges, Al-Kawadri was also accused of maltreating his Filipino wife.

Al-Kawadri’s wife reported his activities to bureau and helped in his arrest.

In her complaint, Al-Kawadri’s wife alleged that her husband abandoned her and their one-and-a-half-year-old son for one year without giving any support. Kristine L. Alave, Philippine Daily Inquirer

DFA warns of illegal recruitment scam in Spain

2010-12-27T21:02:00.000+08:00

February 16, 2010, MANILA, Philippines — An illegal recruitment operation is currently being perpetrated by a syndicate using Spain as a destination for Filipino workers, the Philippine embassy in Spain said in its report to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The embassy named the company allegedly recruiting Filipino workers under this scheme as Previsto Ferrocariel Guiscoanagin, with address at Calle Placentinos 18B, 32005, Barcelona, Spain.

The syndicate is using the email address espanolconsulate@europe.com to communicate with Filipino workers and lead them to believe that this is the e-mail address of the Philippine embassy in Madrid.

The Philippine consulate general in Barcelona has verified that there is no such address in Barcelona. There is a Calle de los Placentinos in the province of Salamanca, while the zip code 32005 corresponds to the province of Ourense, not Catalonia.

The public is advised to be wary of job offers from this company and to first check the veracity of any job offer and company with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the country concerned, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, or the Department of Labor and Employment. - INQUIRER.net

Pedicab driver nabbed for illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:59:00.002+08:00

January 20, 2010, MANILA, Philippines--Police arrested a tricyle driver after he allegedly collected P100,000 each from eight people to whom he promised jobs in Canada that proved to be nonexistent.

Supt. Jose Hidalgo, director of Manila Police District Station 5 in Ermita, said the suspect, Alexander Abuan, was arrested on Monday while receiving marked money from a prospective victim.

According to the police, Abuan, 47, of Dolores, Quezon, collected the money between April and October last year, telling his victims that he was a representative of MedRP International Philippines Inc.

Abuan reportedly promised the jobseekers that they would be leaving in November 2009 for high-paying positions in a factory in Canada, but this did not materialize.

Police identified those who were promised jobs as Marlon Velasquez, 32; Melody Velasquez, 34; Michael Vincent Fransisco; 27; Ruth Espinosa, 25; Vienna Katherine Rivera, 22; Rosalie Vinas Juan, 34; Reymund Santos, 25; and Marisol Cruz, 27.

Exasperated, the jobseekers went to the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency where they found out that MedRP International Philippines Inc. was not accredited to deploy workers abroad.

The victims sought the help of the police who then set up an entrapment operation to catch Abuan who was later nabbed inside a fastfood establishment on Taft Avenue near Pedro Gil, Manila.

Police named Abuan’s alleged accomplices as Benjamin and Mariel Chua, owners of MedRP, and fellow representatives Haber Yusop, Rhea Yusop, and Jovita Pongan.

Large-scale estafa and illegal recruitment charges have been filed against Abuan and the other suspects who remain at large. Tina Santos, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Woman nabbed for illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:56:00.002+08:00

June 23, 2010 - A woman was arrested in her apartment in barangay Labangon, Cebu City for allegedly engaging in illegal recruitment.

Mariam Hasam, 51, was arrested Monday night in an entrapment operation. She transacted with a policeman who posed as an applicant.

According to police investigation, Hasam's husband was an Arabian national and shareholder of Royal Mont Hotel in Canada.

The woman told police that she only wanted to help her husband find workers for the hotel and this way help some people find work abroad.

Hasam told police that she did not know that she had to secure a permit from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for her efforts.

Hasam said she did the direct recruiting and her husband would give final approval.

She said the hotel would shoulder the cost of the applicant's trip to Canada.

Working permits or working visas for the accepted applicants would be processed once they arrive in Canada, the woman said.

Hasam said she would require applicants to pay P5,000 for their medical examination.

She said she had already sent several people to Canada for work.

The police set up the entrapment after six persons reported to the police that the woman issued them dubious receipts after paying for their medical examinations.

One complainant said she and her husband learned about Hasam’s direct hiring from their neighbors.

She said they were offered jobs as chamber maids and room boys in the Royal Mont Hotel.

The complainant said they pawned their motorcycle for P10,000 when Hasam asked them to pay P5,000 so their applications would be processed right away.

The woman said they were surprised when after making payment, the woman only gave them a handwritten acknowledgment which served as a receipt.

The woman said Hasam also showed them a copy of their supposed contract which showed several errors.

Hasam was detained at the Punta Princesa police station while charges are being readied against her, said police. - Carine M. Asutilla, Cebu Daily News/Inquirer.net

36 arrested for illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:54:00.000+08:00

September 22, 2010, MANILA, Philippines –Thirty-six people, including three foreigners, were arrested for illegal recruitment in an entrapment operation by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Makati City on Tuesday, police reports showed Wednesday.

Two British nationals, one Kenyan and the Filipino staff of the employment agency International Student Advisors 4 U Incorporated were the subjects of complaints by sixteen of their applicants, police said.

Arrested by the authorities were Timothy Malcolm Sargeant, Karen Denise Wood, both British nationals; and Kenyan Paul Maundu Nyamai. The Filipinos were not identified.

CIDG Director Leon Nilo dela Cruz said the applicants complained after their visa applications were denied by the embassy of the United Kingdom.

Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, CIDG Anti-Transnational Crimes Division chief police, said that the suspects extorted application processing fees from their victims from P300,000 to P370,000 each.

The agency allegedly promised the applicants work as medical staff or caregivers but with student visas.

Police said that further investigation with UK embassy showed that there were no student programs in the UK universities. Karen Boncocan, INQUIRER.net

6 jailed in Bicol for illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:48:00.000+08:00

October 24, 2010, MANILA, Philippines—Six people were arrested and detained in Bicol after the labor department’s regional office in the area and the Public Employment Service Office (Peso) in Bulan, Sorsogan immediately acted on complaints of the victims, the labor department said in a news release.

Citing a report by lawyer Alvin Villamor, Department of Labor and Employment Region 5 director, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said a certain “Jeric,” allegedly the mastermind, a certain “Ruth,” who acted as the secretary of the group, and four other unidentified individuals were apprehended after they failed to produce the necessary documents from the company they were representing for them to recruit workers from Bicol.

“Upon investigation, Jeric turned out to be a former employee of SMART-PLDT who was terminated last April, while Ruth was never connected with the said firm. The four other cohorts were confirmed to be absent-without-official-leave from SMART-PLDT as of September 2010,” Baldoz said.

“It was actually the four unnamed suspects who spilled the beans on Jeric after they approached Bulan, Sorsogon Peso manager Analyn Diaz. Upon learning that Jeric was no longer connected with SMART-PLDT and that the same company treated them as AWOL when they went to Bicol, the four joined the applicant victims in filing a complaint with the PNP,” she added.

The report said the group claimed they were authorized to conduct specialized recruitment in any province for call center jobs in Metro Manila. They likewise advertised the vacancy in a newspaper with a promise of a starting basic salary of P15,000 up to P25,000.

Jobseekers from Bulan, Sorsogon and nearby areas hurriedly went to the recruitment area with hopes of landing jobs as advertised. Marvin Jubilla took a one-hour ride from Magallanes, Sorsogon to try his luck, while Jonell Navarro, an AB English graduate and a part-time tricycle driver from Bulan also applied and was accepted. Both realized they were fooled by the group even as one applicant was hired-on-the-spot and was promised a P1,500 daily wage.

Diaz, who was informed of an ongoing jobs fair in their municipality, grew suspicious of the activity as there were no permission issued to any entity to conduct a jobs fair in their area that time. Arriving at the recruitment venue, she posed as an applicant and began looking for appropriate recruitment permits from the group. The group was apprehended after failing to produce the necessary documents.

The apprehended suspects are facing charges of large-scale illegal recruitment, a no-bail criminal offense, as the local government in Bulan as well as the Bulan Peso are fast-tracking their arraignment. - INQUIRER.net

Woman gets life for illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:42:00.000+08:00

March 12, 2009, MANILA, Philippines – Nearly 12 years after she was charged in court, a woman was convicted of large scale illegal recruitment and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In a 10-page decision dated March 10, Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 52 ordered Milagros Mendoza to pay a fine of P100,000 and to shoulder the cost of the lawsuit.

Bunyi-Medina also directed Mendoza to return P161,000 and $4,000 to the four complainants who accused her of promising them jobs in a home for the elderly in the United States.

The four were among 13 people who claimed that Mendoza tried to recruit them between Nov. 25, 1995 to Feb. 20, 1997. They added that she was able to convince them to apply for jobs with her after she showed them documents that she owned a home care center in California.

However, a check with the Philippine Overseas and Employment Agency showed that Mendoza was not a licensed recruiter.

Her victims later sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation that conducted an entrapment operation, resulting in Mendoza’s arrest and the filing of charges against her in 1997. - Erika Sauler, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Manila government joins POEA drive vs illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:39:00.000+08:00

August 30, 2008, MANILA, Philippines – The Manila government has joined the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration in its drive against illegal recruiters by signing a memorandum of understanding that will, among others, institutionalize the holding of pre-employment orientation seminars in the city.

The MOU was signed by Mayor Alfredo Lim and POEA Administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz.

Under the agreement, POEA, through its Public Employment Service Office (PESO), will regularly furnish the City Hall with updated lists of licensed agencies and provide information material on the campaign against illegal recruitment such as brochures, pamphlets, posters and copies of recent anti-illegal recruitment laws and regulations.

The POEA will also make available, on request, speakers from among POEA personnel for the seminars. Likewise, it will provide an updated list of government placement branch vacancies for dissemination to constituents along with travel updates and advisories.

The POEA also agreed to provide a courtesy lane for Manila residents in their application for jobs at the POEA Manpower Registry Division provided that such applicant is properly endorsed by the city-PESO.

For its part, City Hall committed to include in its respective programs an aggressive campaign against illegal recruitment; assist in the distribution/reproduction and dissemination of anti-illegal recruitment information materials; and provide venues and participants in the conduct of pre-employment orientation seminars.

Lim said they would also investigate any reported illegal recruitment activity and recommend to POEA the issuance of closure orders against any licensed recruitment establishment committing recruitment violations. - Tina Santos, Philippine Daily Inquirer

An anatomy of a massive illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:37:00.000+08:00

The case of 137 Filipino drivers in Dubai

June 15, 2009, MANILA, Philippines—It all started last November with an ordinary flier which said: “4,000+ jobs for bus drivers in Dubai.” The paper ad offered a monthly salary of 5,200 dirhams or roughly P67,000. Thousands of these fliers were distributed by a local recruitment agency known as CYM International Services and Placement Agency at different bus terminals all over the country.

And so they came, bus drivers working for a well-known transport company, men who belong to other occupations but knew how to drive, former migrant workers who have worked in the Middle East before, and even a gym instructor. They left their jobs to grab what they thought was an opportunity of a lifetime.

CYM International, licensed with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), assured the driver-applicants that after a month’s training in Dubai, they would immediately report to work at the government’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) as bus drivers.

Lure of the lending firms

CYM charged each applicant a placement fee of P150,300, a violation of existing POEA rules that mandate a fee not beyond the equivalent of the worker’s one month’s salary.

From January to March 2009, about 137 workers were sent by CYM International to Dubai in three batches. Around 40 were left in Manila though they already contracted a loan from the lending company for which they have been harassed. Today, of the 137 drivers, 68 continue to languish in Ajman where they were brought to live in a tenement building right beside a garbage dump. The lucky ones were able to leave Dubai before their tourist visas expired, either to work in Qatar with the help of the Department of Labor and Employment or to return home, then go back to Dubai as legitimate, documented workers.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center has been helping these drivers in their legal battles since April of this year. In our five years as a non-government organization helping distressed overseas Filipino workers, this is the first case of illegal recruitment and human trafficking that we have ever encountered of this magnitude and with such an elaborate system of deceit and connivance.

Nearly all of the applicants accepted by CYM who couldn’t afford the placement fee were referred to a lending company known as RJJ Lacaba Financing Corporation. A certain Elmer Lim, together with a loan officer of RJJ Lacaba, facilitated the transaction. In two days, checking accounts were opened, cash cards were processed, and documents an inch-thick, as well as more than 20 checks, were signed by the drivers.

Too many checks

According to the drivers, they were neither given time to bring home the documents to read nor furnished copies of whatever it was that they signed. Cabo, one of the drivers, said he and his companions went to Lacaba’s office in the morning and were still signing checks and documents well into the night. Tired, they begged off and asked to just return the following day.

The financing company obviously had some pull with certain banks. Its staff was able to withdraw from the cash cards of the drivers without their knowledge or permission.

When RJJ Lacaba Financing Corporation distributed cash cards from a certain bank to the drivers, the attached receipts showed that several withdrawals had already been made, leaving a balance below a hundred pesos. How could this happen, when their PIN numbers were supposed to be confidential and known only to the owners of these cards?

During a hearing of the Senate Labor Committee chaired by Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, a bus driver confessed that it was his first time to open a checking account. He simply followed all the instructions of the RJJ Lacaba loan officer. The postdated checks that he signed were all undated, he said. The loan officer asked him to sign several undated checks with two other co-makers.

Later on, the drivers’ pro-bono lawyer Reynaldo Robles, summing up all the checks issued by each of his clients, said he was surprised to learn that each driver-client of RJJ Lacaba owes an aggregate amount of P1.9 million as a result of checks supposedly issued not just to Lacaba but to two insurance companies as well.

Three checks made out to an insurance company by each of the drivers amounted to P345,000. On the day that they signed the checks, the drivers felt rushed into completing all documents and requirements, and their requests for copies of what they signed were denied.

‘Reprocessed’ job orders

As the checks started to fall due and demand letters were sent to their homes, the drivers, some of whom have since returned home, were shocked by the sheer weight of their financial obligations though none of them were ever hired as bus drivers in Dubai as promised by the agency.

CYM International Services and Placement Agency was listed by the POEA as an agency in good standing when the recruitment of drivers was going on. But CYM, which is managed by Connie Paloma, did not have a job order for 4,000 bus drivers to be hired by Dubai’s RTA, as its fliers claimed. It could not have such job orders because the global financial crisis had hit Dubai hard and as a result, RTA had a freeze-hiring policy in place. From the very start, the entire recruitment process was built on sand.

Still, CYM and its Dubai-based agency, Al Toomoh Technical Services Inc. went ahead with its hiring process, enlisting 11 other licensed agencies to “process” the papers of the drivers using different principals or employers in Dubai. This is why the drivers were given employment contracts on the day of their departure. These contracts stated that the 137 workers would be working in Dubai as merchandisers, sales executives, utility helpers, and other positions but not as RTA bus drivers.

All 12 licensed agencies are now under preventive suspension by the POEA.

Based on documents shared by the drivers with the Ople Center, only four workers were actually processed by CYM. The rest of the 133 workers were fanned out to different licensed agencies using job orders that were “reprocessed” or “repro”—a common practice among recruiters.

For a “repro,” an agency can lend the balance of its job orders to another agency for a fee. One agency owner admitted to a staff of the Ople Center that it received P7,500 per head as processing fee from CYM’s Connie Paloma.

“Reprocessing” enables the lead agency to shortcut the process and shepherd its applicants through the POEA without their papers being questioned because the job orders seem in order, at least on paper. Workers leaving under “repro” arrangements become instantly vulnerable to harassment and abuse by their employers and agents abroad because of the disparity in their work and visa documents.

Desperate housewives

The housewives of 68 remaining workers in Dubai have become desperate and continued to borrow money from friends and relatives for remittance to their husbands stranded in Ajman Camp—a pitiful and ironic reversal of roles.

What makes the situation extremely urgent is that out of the remaining 68 drivers, 18 have concrete job offers, this time legitimate, with Emirates Airline Catering. The 18 workers fear that a prolonged delay in the payment of fines could lead to another missed opportunity to earn in Dubai. Only one thing stands in the way of employment—immigration penalties amounting to a rough equivalent of more than P6 million, with daily fines tacked on as weeks pass.

Equally sad is the failure of the children of these housewives to enroll. “It’s so painful but we couldn’t do anything. Some people are even running after us,” one of the housewives said.

Despite their woes, the desperate housewives have found strength in each other, often calling each other up or sending text messages to give updates about pending cases or meeting up at the Ople Center in Pasay City to wait for news.

On Tuesday, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque informed the Blas Ople Center that the immigration penalties of the 68 remaining drivers in Ajman would soon be resolved as an outcome of his talks with Emirates officials last Sunday. The secretary had flown to Dubai for one day just to resolve the matter.

The drivers welcomed this good news with enormous relief and gratitude. Life particularly in Ajman Camp has become even more horrendous as only a single room in the entire building has a working air-condition unit. Because of the intense summer heat in Dubai, the drivers are also in dire need of drinking water, and are reliant at the Office of the Labor Attache for weekly deliveries of water as well as food and diesel to power the building’s electric generator.

‘Repro’ not tolerated

Secretary Roque has also ordered a crackdown on licensed recruitment agencies engaged in the reprocessing of job orders and other forms of illegal recruitment. The POEA decision to cancel the licenses of 12 agencies involved in this scam will undoubtedly send a strong signal to the industry that “repro” will no longer be tolerated.

CYM International Services and Placement Agency has been temporarily closed down. We are now awaiting the decision of the POEA on the administrative complaint for the cancellation of licenses for all 12 conspiring agencies. The drivers also filed a criminal case which is now pending at the Department of Justice.

On June 19, a second hearing will be held at the executive judge’s sala of RTC Manila on our petition for the complainants to be declared as pauper-litigants. Once this petition is approved, the case can be raffled off and hearings on the drivers’ class suit to nullify the financial transactions connected to this illegal recruitment scam shall begin.

Connie Paloma, the CYM’s operations manager who recruited all 137 bus drivers, remains at large and has been spotted one time in Dubai. The request of the Senate to the Department of Foreign Affairs for the cancellation of her passport has been submitted by the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs to their legal department for further study. - Susan Ople, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Heavier penalties vs illegal recruitment

2010-12-27T20:22:00.002+08:00

January 20, 2010, MANILA, Philippines—Illegal recruitment will soon have a sharper definition under the amended version of the Migrant Workers Act of 1995, as Senate on Monday night adopted the bicameral conference committee report amending it.

The bicameral report expanded the definition of illegal recruitment to include reprocessing workers through a job order that pertains to non-existent work, work different from the actual overseas work, or work with a different employer whether registered or not with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

The scheme, also known as contract substitution, has victimized many migrant workers who sign contracts here in the Philippines but execute and enter into new employment contracts upon reaching their destination.

Under the amendments of Republic Act 8042, reprocessing of job orders for OFWs is considered illegal recruitment and any person found guilty of illegal recruitment shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than 12 years but no more than 20 years, and a fine of not less than P1 million nor more than P2 million.

Moreover, if the illegal recruitment is considered an economic sabotage, the penalty is life imprisonment plus a fine of not less than P2 million and not more than P5 million.

Recruitment through “repro orders” both by licensed and unlicensed agencies was quite rampant in 2008, causing the deployment of 100,000 domestic helpers to Lebanon, Dubai, Jordan, and Syria.

The measure also expressly holds the governing board of the POEA accountable in the deployment of migrant workers.

Under the bill, government officials found responsible for the issuance of permits and allowing the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to countries that do not guarantee or comply with international labor standards shall suffer the penalty of dismissal from service or be disqualified from holding appointive public office for five years. - INQUIRER.net

RP, Korea sign work safety pact

2010-12-18T11:36:00.000+08:00

August 29, 2010: MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has signed a technical cooperation agreement in the field of occupational safety and health with the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (Kosha), it was learned.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz signed the pact for the Philippines while Kosha’s director of Technical Experts Department, Dr. Kwon Hyuck Myun signed in behalf of South Korea.

The agreement aims to help enhance the capability of the DoLE’s Occupational Safety and Health Center in promoting the safety and health of workers at the workplaces in the Philippines and South Korea. It will be implemented for three years, which may be extended upon mutual consent of both parties.

The agreement follows a number of work-related accidents that cost the lives of Filipino workers in the Korean-owned Hanjin shipyard in Subic last year.

In her remarks after the signing of the agreement, Baldoz said the agreement will usher in a healthful and safe environment for Filipino workers in many Korean companies in the Philippines.

For his part, Dr. Myun of Kosha said the agreement will also benefit Korea. It is a way for Korea to repay the technical cooperation it got from the Philippines during the Korean War. From now on, he said, Kosha will communicate closely with Philippine stakeholders on occupational safety and health concerns.

Undersecretary for Labor Standards and Social Protection Lourdes Trasmonte, who witnessed the signing of the agreement, said that she wants Kosha, through this agreement, to share its expertise in training, benchmarking, and replication of companies’ best practices.

The scope of cooperation under the agreement covers the exchange of experts for training and education, consultancy, seminar/workshop or for research program on topics of mutual interest to both countries, and exchange of technical information and materials on occupational safety and health free of charge or at a reasonable price.

Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) Director Ma. Brenda L. Villafuerte, who provided a background prior to the signing of the agreement, said Kosha aims to forge similar agreements with all member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). She said that Korea had recently entered into technical cooperation agreements with Indonesia, Mongolia, Laos, and now the Philippines.

She said that under the agreement, a technical working group composed of representatives from Kosha and DoLE will identify activities that will enhance the capability of the labor inspectorate, particularly in conducting Work Environment Measurement (WEM). The group will also determine the kind of assistance that the Occupational Safety and Health Center needs in procuring the necessary equipment.

Aside from Trasmonte and Villafuerte, Occupational Safety and Health Center Director Ma. Teresita S. Cucueco and Labor Communications Officer Director Nicon F. Famerona also witnessed the signing.

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No ban on sending workers to South Korea, says Malacañang

2010-11-29T12:05:00.000+08:00

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