Forging a Common Agenda for Overseas Filipino Workers
Statement from Sen. Jinggoy Estrada
Chairperson, Senate Committee on Labor & Employment and Human Resources
Delivered by Atty. David Robert C. Aquino
Isang magandang tanghali sa mga opisyal, mga kasapi, mga kinatawan, at mga piling panauhin ng Philippine Migrants Rights Watch at lahat ng mga samahan ng ating mga overseas Filipino workers.
Ipinaaabot ko ang aking bukod-tanging pagbati sa inyong lahat na kumakatawan sa kapakanan at interes ng ating mga kababayang naghahanap-buhay sa ibang bansa. Nagpa-pasalamat din ako sa inyong masiglang pagtanggap sa akin at sa inyong imbitasyon para maging bahagi ng pagtatapos ng inyong kumperensiya ngayong hapon.
I extend my warm regards and greetings to the participants and representatives of various organizations of overseas Filipino workers who have joined us in this conference on Filipino labor migration.
I also would like to take the opportunity to express my congratulations to the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch and its partner organizations for organizing this important conference to address the welfare and interests of Filipinos workers abroad.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment and Human Resources, I convey my sincere appreciation to all of you for this important initiative. You are the experts in labor migration, for most of you have not just studied or observed the lives of OFWs, but you have lived the experience of working in a foreign country.
I join you today in the hope that we can jointly and collectively cooperate in forging better, more productive, and more pro-active agenda for Filipino labor migration.
We must build and foster a common and realistic agenda for overseas Filipino workers, not just an agenda of the Department of Labor, the OWWA of the POEA, but a common agenda that reflects, for the most part, the sentiments, the aspirations, and the spirit of the very sector for which it is developed, our overseas Filipino workers.
I join you today in the hope that my committee and I can learn from you and be guided on this most important sector in our economy.
Nalulungkot po ako na kahit pinarangalan natin ang ating mga OFW na mga makabagong bayani, hindi sapat ang proteksiyon na ibinibigay ng ating gobyerno sa kanila, lalo na dito pa lamang sa ibang bansa. Naglipana pa rin ang mga illegal recruiters. Naglipana pa rin ang mga opisyal na nagsasamantala sa mga manggagawa.
Kailangan pa ba ng publicity at media para kumilos ang ating gobyerno sa mga pang-aabuso at pagmamaltrato sa ating mga kababayan sa ibang bansa?
Here in our country, we loudly proclaim our OFWs as the new heroes. They have continuously served to keep our economy afloat with their remittances to shore up our foreign ex-change. Their remittances contribute roughly 7.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2003 to the economy.
And yet, our overseas Filipino workers remain to be one of the most vulnerable and least protected sector of the economy, compared to big businessmen and foreign corporations who enjoy many perks in the form of tax holidays, tax credits and other incentives.
Nakakalungkot na tanggapin na ang ating mga karaniwang mangagawa na naghahanap-buhay sa ibang bansa, malayo sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay, ang kadalasang nahuhuli sa mga benepisyo ng gobyerno.
Sila ang nagpapasok ng dolyar sa Pilipinas at ang mayayaman at mga elitista naman ang naglalabas nito. Pero, kadalasan, kaninong interes ang pinoprotektahan ng gobyerno.
This is the tragedy of an administration that continues to protect the welfare and interest of the favored elite. But then again, this is the tragedy of this country today.
In the short span of time that I assumed the chairmanship of the Committee on Labor, I have received information on many policy gaps that must be bridged to protect Filipino labor here and abroad.
In the committee today, we discussed such issues and proposals as the National Employment Assistance Center of the Philippines, the Magna Carta for Household Helpers, Philippine Overseas Workers Bank, Migrant Workers Hospital Act of 2004, Education and Heritage Program for Overseas Filipino Act and the Travel Tax Reform Act of 2004.
Wide and open discussions and consultations therefore, such as the ones you had during the last three days, serve as important occasions and opportunities that bring to light significant and sensitive issues and problems confronting our migrant sector and their families.
They serve to generate and engender more public discourse as to the nature and kind of policies that we need to develop to enhance and strengthen the welfare of our OFWs.
As you conclude this conference, I again take this opportunity to congratulate you on the theme you have chosen to mark this conference, which is “SHAPING THE FUTURE OF FILIPINO LABOR MIGRATION.”
Ladies and gentlemen, this is an important theme that must guide us today on what we must do for our OFWs and for the totality of our workers.
It is not just about the future of migration and better employment contracts, but the future of our workers who must be given the opportunity for reintegration in our society after having contributed so much to their families and to the Philippine economy.
It is also the future of the coming generation of Filipino workers who must be given better protection and attention than those in the present time.
It is the future of generating better employment and livelihood opportunities here so that we can stem the tide of Filipinos separating from their families to work abroad and be maltreated and exploited.
It is the future of this nation and the coming generation of Filipinos and it must be protected for all. It must be a future that will bring about a society much better than what we have now.
Today, I hope that we can start an active and vibrant partnership that will result in policies which will further improve and protect the welfare and interest of our migrant workers. We will learn from you and we promise that we will see to it that our workers will have better protection.
Thank you, mabuhay and good day. |
