Philippines
Job prospects in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Guam
Saudi Arabia is planning to hire about 300,000 skilled workers from the Philippines. According to Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach 1.5 million by the end of April and 1.8 million by the end of the year. The construction of Saudi Arabia’s super cities over the next five years has encouraged the pooling of skilled foreign workers from various countries.
Demand for skilled Filipino workers is still increasing in the UAE despite the 50 percent decline in the hiring of domestic workers last year. Jobs for OFWs in the UAE are in construction, engineering, tourism, retail, energy, telecommunications, hotels and ICT. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said employment prospects for Filipinos will continue to be bright this year.
Guam plans to offer about 20,000 jobs for skilled Filipino workers in the construction of an expanded U.S. military base. Victor Fernandez of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI) said the decision to offer new job opportunities for Filipino workers was made following the announcement that US military facilities and personnel from Japan will be moved to Guam. About $13 billion will be spent for the construction of the base, which will last up to four years. Fernandez also said that PASEI will advise the POEA to allow a no-placement fee regulation. Fernandez and PASEI members earlier met with Guam’s labor officials, labor unions, trade offices and local Filipino associations, where they were briefed about Guam’s hiring policies.
Decline in nurse migration to the US?
Fewer Filipino nurses applied for work in the US from January to March this year, according to Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago, an advocate for better Philippine nursing education. For the first three months of 2008, only 4,686 nurses took the US-administered nursing exam, down by seven percent from the 5,076 who took the test during the same period last year. In 2007, about 21,499 nurses took the test. Santiago has been lobbying for reforms in the country’s nursing education, including pushing for the closure of substandard nursing schools in the country. It is estimated that nearly half a million or 497,000 students will study nursing in school year 2008-2009.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, Philippine Ambassador Antonio Rodriguez observed that almost every hospital in Bangkok has Filipino health workers. On the other hand, the number of musicians and entertainers has gone down, which, according to Rodriguez, is due to lower salaries.
Jordan, Iraq deployment ban stays
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on 7 April clarified that he has not lifted the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Jordan, contrary to the reported announcement of Jordanian Labor Minister Bassem Salem that the two countries have agreed to lift the ban. The deployment ban was enforced in January after reports surfaced of rising abuse cases filed by overseas Filipino workers in Jordan.
Migrante-Midde East is concerned that the US State Department’s renewal of contract with Blackwater may reinforce the recruitment of OFWs to war-torn Iraq. Despite the ban in the deployment of OFWs to Iraq, the group has received reports of local recruitment agencies sending OFWs to work as construction workers, drivers and security personnel in US military camps. Workers arrive there through Kuwait and the UAE. Roy Cimatu, Special Envoy to the Middle East, revealed in a Senate inquiry that about 4,500 OFWs were working in Iraq-based US military camps. Critics say the POEA should prosecute officials involved with recruitment agencies that are sending OFWs to Iraq and that it should also require the screening and certification of private recruitment agencies.
OFWs are not part of Malaysia’s plan to reduce foreign workers
Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Victoriano Lecaros clarified that Filipino workers in Malaysia are not part of the country’s plan to reduce the number of foreign workers. There are 27,000 documented and undocumented Filipino workers in West Malaysia, a small number compared to Indonesians, Indians and Vietnamese who dominate the foreign worker population in the country. Lecaros said the Malaysian government is only trying to control the rising number of foreign workers in the country, especially the unauthorized workers.
OFWs urged to take care of health
Data from the Health and Labor Departments show that OFWs in the Gulf region are more prone to health risks due to lifestyle factors. The top risks OFWs face are hypertension, diabetes and cancer. The Philippine Embassy also found records revealing that eight out of 10 OFWs have died from stroke and heart ailments. Labor official Alejandro Santos stressed the need for Filipinos to undergo regular check-up and recommended that a physician be posted at the labor office to monitor the health needs of OFWs.
Death sentence for domestic workers in Kuwait
The Kuwaiti criminal court has given the death sentence to Filipino domestic worker Jakatia Mandon Pawa for the murder of her employer’s 21-year-old daughter, the Bahrain Tribune reported on 15 April. The verdict still has to be approved by the Court of Appeals and the Court of Cassation, followed by the Amir of Kuwait. The Philippine government has provided Pawa a lawyer and is preparing to make another appeal for the case. Before Pawa, two more Filipino domestic workers were recently sentenced to death.
On 1 April, the Kuwaiti supreme court upheld the death sentence on May Vecina Membrini, another Filipino domestic worker, who for murdering the six-year-old son of her employer and attempting to kill his siblings on 6 January 2007. Her sentence was confirmed on 8 April by the Court of Cassation, the highest court in Kuwait.
Last December 2007, Kuwait also gave the death sentence to domestic worker Marilou Ranario for killing her employer. Following President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit to Kuwait, the Amir agreed to bring down the sentence to life imprisonment if the victim’s family will send a forgiveness note, but there has been no confirmation of that from Kuwaiti authorities so far. Vecina’s and Ranario’s sentences are final, since all chances for appeal have been exhausted. However, the Amir still has two months to revoke the decision.
Migrante International criticized the government for only acting now to save Vecina, though it had already known the issue for a long time. President Arroyo, on the other hand, said the government is doing all it can to save Vecina.
Repatriation, deportation of OFWs
The Labor Department and the DFA are cooperating to schedule the repatriation of 200 stranded OFWs in Jeddah and another 62 stranded OFWs in various regions in Saudi Arabia. Also awaiting repatriation are more than 100 OFWs in Riyadh. The stranded workers ran away from their employers for alleged abuses.
Eighty-eight distressed women OFWs who suffered from employers’ abuses are also awaiting repatriation from the UAE. Earlier, five runaway OFWs who experienced the same plight were also sent back to the Philippines on 24 April through the assistance of Senate President Villar.
In Bahrain, human rights organizations and diplomats say that there could be a rise in the cases of children becoming stranded for lack of documents about their fathers. Though there are no accurate numbers, it is speculated that there are already thousands of stranded, stateless children. The problem has been linked to immigration authorities’ restrictions on issuing exit papers for children born outside of marriage, which has left a number of single foreign mothers with undocumented children stranded.
Over 112 Filipinos were deported from Sabah, Malaysia for working there without holding valid documents. They were arrested by Malaysian police and shipped back to the Philippines. They arrived in Zamboanga City on 13 April. In related news, over 60 Filipinos who committed criminal offenses during their stay in the US were sent back to Manila in mid-April. They arrived via a chartered flight arranged by the US Immigration Bureau.
Six Filipino seafarers and the 24 other crew members of the cruise ship Le Ponant were hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia on 5 April. Philippine authorities contacted French officials, who later sent the French Navy to rescue the hostages. The six Filipinos were brought to Paris, France; they arrived in the Philippines on April 16.
The Philippine Embassy in South Africa plans to repatriate a total of 239 OFWs in a Namibia-based garments factory after the company shut down on 7 March. Workers confirmed that they had already received their exit pay packages, including repatriation tickets. A consular team has been sent to Namibia to ensure that all worker issues are resolved before the workers are sent home.
Call to review anti-trafficking laws
Senate President Manny Villar on 24 April filed Senate Resolution No. 366 seeking to review the Philippines’ laws concerning labor recruitment, human trafficking and immigration, and to implement tougher penalties against those involved in human trafficking and illegal recruitment. He helped in repatriating 15 distressed OFWs from the Middle East.
In related news, on 28 April, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore admitted that human trafficking still persists in the city-state. This admission surfaced after meetings between the embassy, Ambassador Steven Steiner of the US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and representatives of the Philippine Presidential Task Force on Human Trafficking. Earlier this year, it reported to the DFA of “an alarming increase” of 70 percent in trafficking cases. The number of incidents rose to 212 in 2007 from 125 in 2006 and 59 in 2005. It is believed, however, that this count is understated.
Rise in remittances; WB says remittances do not lead to growth
Overall remittances sent home by OFWs for the January-February period reached $2.5 billion, up 15.5 percent from the $2.2 billion remitted in the same period last year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The rise in remittances has been linked to data from the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration, which shows that during these two months, the number of deployed Filipino workers increased to 199,378, a 14.6 percent jump from the same period last year. The BSP said the proportion of more skilled Filipinos with high-paying jobs overseas has helped increase remittances.
In 2007, the POEA said that the number of OFWs has increased, especially in the fields of engineering, medicine, healthcare, education and hotel services. This trend continues in 2008, according to the BSP. The number of land-based workers rose to 13 percent, while sea-based workers increased to 20.3 percent. It is expected that remittances will reach $15.7 billion this year, higher than the $14.4 billion growth last year.
Meanwhile, a study by the World Bank says that the increase in remittances sent home to the Philippines is misleading and does not translate to rapid growth. In a roundtable discussion organized by the Migrant Policy Institute for the preparation of the 2nd Global Forum in Manila this October, World Bank representatives said that although remittances to the Philippines have increased up to 50 percent from 2004 to 2007, it expanded by only three percent in real terms. Migration experts also said that continued use of remittance dollars for consumer goods is not supporting the economy. They added that while the increase in remittances has just maintained the purchasing power of beneficiaries, rising costs of living, especially in food and oil are “eroding” this power.
Koreans are largest group of tourists to RP
About 111,000 South Korean students took English classes and had study tours in the Philippines last year, according to the Department of Tourism. The number is 17 percent of over 650,000 Koreans who came to the country. From January to February, the number of Korean visitors also reached a total of 126,354, which is 22.1 percent of all visitors. Koreans have already beaten the Americans in the number of visitors to the Philippines, the department said. It is expected that their number will reach a million by 2010 and will account for one-fifth of the department’s targeted five million visitors a year.
BI intercepts ‘tourist workers,’ foreigners
A total of 139 ‘tourist workers’ and 43 foreign nationals were unable to leave the Philippines from January to March this year after the Bureau of Immigration (BI) intercepted them at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and banned them from flying out of the country. Most of the ‘tourist workers’ intended to work abroad on tourist visas, while some were found with defective travel papers.
The BI also blocked 179 foreigners from entering the country from January to March this year as part of its campaign against human trafficking. It denied entry to 67 foreigners who did not have the proper documents, 58 who were profiled as possible public charges, 39 blacklisted aliens and others. All were intercepted at the airport by the BI Migration and Compliance Monitoring Group, which was formed to lead the drive against human trafficking and escort rackets in the country’s major airports and terminals.
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