More than 1,300 OFWs evacuated from Lebanon
The Philippine government, with the help of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has evacuated more than 1,300 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Lebanon from 23 July up to the end of the month. Among those who have been brought back to the Philippines were injured OFW, Teresita Butalan, who jumped from her employer’s apartment in Beirut and two pregnant workers, Lucita Embino and Angelita Ong. Out of an estimated 30,000 Filipino workers in Lebanon, around 2,000 were staying in the southern part that is under heavy attack from Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion promised repatriated workers that the Labor Department would assist them find employment either abroad or locally and provide them with livelihood opportunities, including training and provision of start-up capital.
As part of the initial contingency plan of the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, OFWs were first relocated to areas where their safety could be assured, such as in Catholic churches, parishes and other religious facilities in Lebanon. The Department of Foreign Affairs has requested the Apostolic Nuncio of the Philippines Archbishop Fernando Filoni to relay the government’s appeal to the Vatican for the use of Catholic churches and other facilities in Lebanon as relocation sites. The Filipino workers were later evacuated to Damascus after safe routes have been identified. OFWs who did not have complaints lodged by their employers did not encounter problems.
$2-m allocated for repatriation of OFWs from Lebanon
According to Labor Secretary Arturo Brion, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has allocated $2-million to be used for the government’s repatriation efforts for OFWs in Lebanon. OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque explained that OWWA has some P200 million in cash and savings account at the Land Bank, which is being tapped for the present evacuation activities. Roque assured the public that the P7.6-billion OWWA fund was intact in two government banks. Several groups are demanding an investigation into the OWWA funds and an accounting of how the funds are utilized.
Filipinos in Israel have been advised to stay close to bomb shelters and to observe caution when moving around. The Philippine Embassy in Israel has also sent some staff to the northern towns and cities under attack from Lebanon to assess the situation in these areas and set up local monitoring groups. Among the northern towns hit by Hezbollah attack are Haifa, Nazareth, Zefat and Kiryat Shomna. So far, there have been no reports of any Filipino casualties in Israel.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has endorsed a package of reforms designed to upgrade the skills of Filipino workers seeking employment abroad as domestic workers. The package would include the conduct of country-specific orientation courses on language and culture. It would also include measures to improve the protection of OFWs at worksites, oblige employers to pay for the cost of deployment and raise salary levels befitting their competencies. According to Brion, outbound domestic workers would be made to undergo a skills assessment test before leaving to ensure that they have the necessary qualifications for overseas employment. The reform package is intended to reduce the deployment of inexperienced, ill-trained and undocumented workers who are vulnerable to abuse by both recruiters and employers.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion revealed that Filipino skilled workers, including engineers, architects and technicians, who would be displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, could be deployed to Libya. The Labor Department said that once American investments start to pour into Libya, the deployment of OFWs is likely to increase. Currently, there are some 8,000 OFWs working in Libya. During President Arroyo’s recent visit to Tripoli, she also signed several agreements with Libya involving construction projects, worker recruitment and trade prospects. The chambers of commerce and industry of the Philippines and Libya also signed an agreement identifying the areas of cooperation between the two countries, including construction, furniture and furnishings, tourism and health services.
Lorenzo Langomez, president of the Confederated Associations of Licensed Entertainment Agencies, sought Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Azo’s help in easing Japan’s tough immigration rules that have drastically cut the deployment of Filipino entertainers. According to Langomez, the number of Filipino entertainers sent to Japan has been reduced from 80,000 to 2,118 during the first half of 2006.
The Foreigner Skill Support Business Association, a Japanese business group, vowed to help Filipino skilled workers gain access to Japan’s labor market. The group promised to facilitate the accreditation of Filipino health workers, IT professionals and other skilled workers who wish to work in Japan. The association is planning to provide skills training, language courses and technical support to Filipino workers to enable them to take advantage of the employment opportunities in Japan.
According to Ernesto Herrera, secretary-general of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the country remains the top supplier of foreign nurses in the US but lately other countries, such as India, South Korea, Canada and Cuba have been increasing their deployment of nurses to the American labor market. The 6,171 nurses from the Philippines who took the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) for the first time from January to June this year accounted for seven percent of the 89,140 first-time takers of the exam during this period. Some 1,864 nurses from India also took the exam, along with 948 from South Korea, 504 from Canada and 260 from Cuba.
Labor Undersecretary for International Relations Manuel Imson explained that the removal of nursing from the UK’s worker shortage list was only a temporary. According to Imson, Filipino nurses continue to be preferred by UK employers and despite the new policy on nursing, there is no danger of losing this labor market. Under new regulations, prospective employers are required to show evidence that they have tried but failed to recruit locally before they can get workers from overseas. The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) added that the removal of nursing from the occupations shortage list does not constitute a ban on the recruitment of overseas nurses but it may make the employment process tougher.
Slight increase in OFW deployment
According to the Labor Department, the number of OFWs deployed abroad for the first six months of 2006 has increased slightly to 564,920 from 555,533 in the same period last year. This figure includes 428,157 documented land-based workers and 136,763 sea-based workers and is a little more than half the targeted one million deployed Filipino workers this year.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that the 20 Filipino crew of the UAE-registered oil tanker M/T Lin who were held hostage by Somalian gunmen for nearly four months have finally been released on 15 July. This was relayed by Manoj Sabharwal, principal negotiator of the vessel’s owner, Akron Trade and Transport Company, to Philippine Ambassador to the UAE, Libran Cabactulan. The M/T Lin had already started sailing for Fujairah where the Filipino seafarers are expected to undergo medical examinations. Meanwhile, the vessel’s captain, Pablo Buaya, assured the envoy that all the crewmembers are in good health.
Helicopter units from the US Coast Guard had rescued 23 crewmembers of the Singapore-registered container ship, Cougar Ace, off the coast of Alaska. Among those rescued were 13 seafarers from the Philippines, eight from Burma and two from Singapore. The ship owned by Mitsui O.S. K. Lines was transporting a cargo of 4,800 cars from Japan to Canada.
The Philippine embassy in Hanoi rescued seven Filipinos who were left stranded by their recruiters in Vietnam. According to a report by Ambassador Estrella Berenguel, the Filipinos arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on the first week of July supposedly to work as teachers and engineers. However, a few days later, their recruiters left them in an unfurnished apartment, forcing them to seek the help of the Filipino community in the area. The group also sought the embassy’s help in initiating legal action against the recruiters.
On 18 July, a Shariah in the UAE court sentenced Filipina domestic worker Serafina Toyan, 26, to one month in prison for allegedly sitting on the Koran. She also faces deportation upon serving her jail term. According to Toyan, she did not notice the Koran because it had a blanket covering it as she sat on her bed to rest. However, her employer, Jumaa Jamil Bakket Junaibi, had been angered by the incident that he immediately took Toyan to the police station. Meanwhile, Islamic scholar Badejim Abdullah said that although sitting on the Koran is considered blasphemous, it is not punishable if done unintentionally or accidentally. Hence, Toyan should not have been jailed.
The Philippine embassy in Bahrain had resumed its practice of blacklisting recruitment agencies that are the subject of complaints from Filipino workers. The Philippine Overseas Labor Office did not disclose the names of the 36 blacklisted agencies but allegedly furnished the labor ministry with the list. According to the embassy, it will only clear the blacklist after the leadership of the Bahrain Recruiters Society meets with Philippine officials and assures them that recruiters would abide by labor rules and enforce the use of new job contracts for Filipino workers.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and the Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc. (VFFI) recently signed an agreement for the building of a halfway house for trafficked women and children at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport complex. Under the terms of the agreement MIAA would provide the building for the Bahay Silungan sa Paliparan (Shelter at the Airport) at a 510 sq.m. lot at the airport complex while VFFI would run the shelter. MIAA also agreed to work with the VFFI in protecting women and children against trafficking and exploitation.
Malaysian irregular migrant, Misianti binti Jap, had voluntarily surrendered to the Bureau of Immigration in Zamboanga on 18 July. According to Jap, she and her Filipino boyfriend arrived in Mindanao in November 2005 and lived together for a few months. However, her boyfriend later left her after making her pregnant. Now, Jap just wants to go back to Malaysia.
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