Before the filing of Sen. Mar Roxas' bill on revising Republic Act 8042 or the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995,” the Office of the Senator conducted the third and last consultation meeting with the representatives of the non-government organizations last 29 September 2005 . The meeting was facilitated by Atty. Rissa Ofilada.

She first enumerated the comments given by the groups prior to the meeting. Among those pointed out was to change some terms in the draft to acknowledge that there is promotion of migration and to stress the protection of the OFWs. It was also proposed to improve the definition of what a migrant worker is. The seafarer group expressed that they would like to be included in the definition and to adopt the international definition of a “migrant worker. However there may be a problem with including the seafarer group because the Philippines did not sign the Migrant Workers Convention .

The groups also made suggestions on how the government can help improve the migrant situation in the country. It was proposed to have a holistic comprehensive reintegration program which will help the OFW create an alternative livelihood for him/herself and provide them with psychosocial support. Assistance to returning migrants by facilitating the capitalization of a new business and tax reduction can help them utilize their finances more. Atty. Ofilada considered the proposal and will see if it can be included in their Fiscal Incentives Bill.

The group expressed the need for protection of those workers who are employed without compensation in the hope that they will be absorbed by the company. It was stated that this can be considered as illegal recruitment. This is among the several cases reported by the group. In response, Atty. Ofilada stated that there should be penalties for those employing without giving proper compensation. She also asked for a written testimony of the usual cases of abuse the migrant workers are reporting to NGOs.

Included in the discussion was the task of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The POEA has two responsibilities: protection and monitoring. The government agency has a lot to improve on its programs since protection goes hand in hand with monitoring. It was suggested that they can start by recognizing how many recruitment agencies there are and what are the terms and conditions of each. It will also help if they link their programs with the Anti-trafficking Law and include more provisions to penalize offenders. It was proposed to blacklist or expose recruitment agencies found to be doing illegal practices. In relation to monitoring, it was suggested that a system has to be devised where OFWs can put their comments on the treatment they received from certain officials and/or agencies while maintaining their anonymity.

All comments from the NGO group for the improvement of the draft bill were taken into consideration before the filing. Their target will be in October. They will inform the NGO group once it is given for deliberation. All the other proposals were noted and the Office of the Senator will see what can be done to alleviate the problem of our OFWs.