In line with the roundtable discussions with foreign missions held last year in preparation for the World Conference of OFWs, the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch ( PMRW ), with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), successfully organized a forum with representatives of foreign missions from the receiving countries.

PMRW warmly welcomed Mr. Joseph Assad of the Consulate of Lebanon for the Middle East region; Ms. Peta Dunn of the Embassy of Australia and Mr. Charles Godfrey of the Canadian Embassy for the Americas and Oceania regions; Mr. Tomoaki Noguchi of the Embassy of Japan; Ms. Claire Lee of the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore and Mr. Joseph Chang of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) for the Asia region. Unfortunately the representatives of the Embassy of the United States of America , Mr. Carl Cockburn, and Ms. Elisabeth Hasselbom of the Embassy of Sweden, could not join the activity.

The forum started with an invocation led by Fr. Fabio Baggio , Director of the Scalabrini Migration Center . Ms. Carmelita G. Nuqui, PMRW President and Executive Director of the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN) thanked everyone for coming to participate in the forum, and opened the event. A short introduction from each participant followed.

The program for the day was almost the same with the program during the May 3 forum with the NGOs, GOs and the media.

Ms. Maria Celeste Marasigan of PMRW presented before the forum participants the results of the roundtable discussion held last year. She acknowledged the valuable inputs and help given by representatives of the different foreign missions, who provided data on the matters discussed during the meetings, gave phone interviews, or sent their replies to the guide questions sent by PMRW . Visa requirements, recruitment agencies and immigration consultants, pre-departure orientation seminars, unauthorized migration, and the Filipinos' status in the respective countries, were among the topics discussed. Other embassy concerns included the rampant submission of falsified documents. Several recommendations were made for the government and the visa applicants.

Fr Edwin Corros , the Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP-ECMI) presented the Highlights and Recommendations of the December conference. He gave an overview of what transpired during the three-day conference, giving importance to the topics presented and the workshops held in the afternoon.

Fr. Edwin Corros asked the participants to look at their copies of the proceedings of the World Conference and go through the recommendations made. A total of 33 recommendations, addressed to the policy makers, civil society and the migrants themselves, were reported.

The presentation of the report on “Preparing to Work Abroad: Filipino Migrants' Experiences Prior to Deployment” was done by Fr. Fabio Baggio . The report revealed the problems OFWs encounter before their departure from the country, paying particular attention on the excessive pre-departure expenses/placement fees that they have to shoulder. The existence of the “real contract” upon arrival in the host country was also discussed as against the one signed in the Philippines . The study also revealed that more than 50 percent of Filipino migrants are college graduates.

Ms. Ellene Sana, Executive Director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines (CMA-Phils), briefed the representatives on the “Bayad Ko ‘To” signature campaign, which was launched last May 3. She started her presentation by giving an overview of Philippine migration situation, followed by an explanation on how OWWA and the membership fee came about. She then explained the rationale of the PMRW 's signature campaign, which is to gather evidence that indeed, it is the OFW who pays for his/her OWWA membership fee and not the employer. The campaign aims to gather 100,000 signatures from OFWs around the world. To date, the campaign has been discussed with PMRW 's partners and networks. Signature forms have likewise been circulated to OFW groups in the Middle East , Hongkong , Taiwan , Korea and Europe . The forum participants were provided with copies of the draft signature campaign form.

Ms. Marjorie Vidal of the Scalabrini Center for People on the Move ( SCPM ) supported the signature campaign by providing accounts of departing OFWs, who admitted that they paid for their OWWA membership fees. She also discussed the payments that OFWs have to shoulder prior to their departure.

Over lunch, an Open Forum was held after the reports were presented. The embassy representatives expressed their concerns on the overcharging of pre-deployment fees, the Philippine government's lack of transparency, the importance of getting the proper information on migration, and other matters.

Before the participants left the forum, each one expressed his/her appreciation of PMRW 's initiative in sharing valuable information with them. They encouraged the holding of similar events and endeavors in the interest of improving the Filipino migrants' situation.

By: Maria Celeste A. Marasigan