2008 is another year of hardships for OFWs - Migrante

The current year will mean more hardships and neglect for the millions of Filipino workers abroad, the militant group Migrante International said on Wednesday. This assertion from Maita Santiago, secretary general of Migrante, seeks to dispute the prediction of presidential spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye that 2008 will be another banner year for overseas Filipino workers. “Ang tingin namin itong 2008 will be worse than 2007 for our OFWs. Hindi ba ang estimate sa dollar (exchange against the peso) will reach P38 to P35 this year, ibig sabihin mas marami ang kababayan natin na magtitiis sa mababang sahod," she pointed out. Santiago said 2007 was one of the worst years for OFWs as far as human rights violation is concerned, citing reported cases of rape and other forms of abuse against Filipino women workers abroad, as well as kidnapping and hostage taking, cases of deportation, and murders. Last weekend, Bunye said 2008 will be another banner year for OFWs as a result of the shifting employment profile of Filipino migrant workers from non-skilled to skilled. He said that unlike in previous years, most of OFWs leaving the country now are professionals and skilled workers. Bunye described this change in the employment pattern of OFWs over the last two years as no less than dramatic. Recruitment agency owner Jackson Gan, meanwhile, said a big number of professional and highly skilled workers who are qualified to work abroad are not inclined anymore to leave the country because of the continuing peso appreciation against the dollar. He said that a worker who would leave the country this year with a salary of US$1,000, which is equivalent to P50,000 at the start of 2007, has been reduced to P41,000 at the end of the year, or reduced by 20 percent. Despite the weak dollar, Santiago believes that Filipinos won’t be discouraged to leave the country and take the risks in working abroad. “Kahit maliit na lang ang kikitain nila, aalis pa rin sila dahil wala namang opportunities na ini-o-offer ang government sa kanila. Malakas nga ang piso pero hindi nagta-translate at nagbe-benefit ang karaniwang manggagawa dahil mataas pa rin ang bilihin, ang presyo ng langis," Santiago said. She added that one clear example of how desperate Filipinos are in working abroad is the strong clamor for the government to lift the deployment ban on four high risk countries – Iraq, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. “Sino ba naman ang ayaw na makasama ang pamilya nila. Pero wala naman silang aasahan dito, ang mga pangako ng gobyerno unrealistic. Talagang umaasa na lang sila sa trabaho sa ibang bansa," Santiago explained. For the people to feel the benefit of strong peso, Santiago suggested that the government take the necessary steps to bring down the cost of prime commodities, scrap the oil deregulation law to reduce the price of crude oil in local market, and support the bill granting P125 across the board wage increase to private sector workers. - Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV