MANILA, Philippines — Migrante International’s chapter in the Middle East urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday to scrap her labor export policy as embodied in Administrative Order No. 247.
Migrante-Middle East also joined calls for the government to revoke the Philippine’s Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States.
Both Arroyo's LEP and the VFA are by-products of foreign impositions and unequal relations, the group said in a statement.
John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator, said the Arroyo administration's labor export policy and the VFA are both concrete manifestations of foreign dominations and of the existing unequal relations between the governments of the United States and the Philippines.
Arroyo's labor policy promotes the sellout of cheap OFW labor abroad, he said.
Monterona AO No. 247, issued recently, was a “vain attempt" to legitimize the government’s continuous peddling of OFWs abroad to siphon billions of OFW remittances and already overcharged fees, thus overburdening OFWs and their families.
"While visiting American forces enjoy all impunity and Filipino hospitality, our OFWs abroad are often victims of abuses, maltreatment, and labor malpractices.
The one-sided ratified VFA, he said, was a sellout as it was ratified only by the Philippine Senate but not by the US Senate. Washington has refused to consider the VFA as a treaty.
"While visiting American forces enjoy their stay in the Philippines due to the VIP treatment provided by the Arroyo administration, our OFWs abroad are treated like slaves, working more than the required eight hours, OT work not being paid, and often salaries not paid on time or never to receive salaries at all.
"While visiting American forces have their pride and head high during stay in the Philippines, our so-called 'Bagong Bayani' are treated as third class citizens, subjected both to physical and emotional abuse and insults by their employers," Monterona said.
He said while the VFA allows the entry of US troops in the Philippines enjoying legal immunity despite American forces allegedly committing atrocities against the Filipino people, Arroyo's LEP continuously send OFWs abroad without measures to protect OFWs rights, welfare and safety.
The government claims it has been doing its best to protect OFWs and it continues to improve its services.
Government officials also boast that the Philippines has the best system of helping its citizens working abroad and that some countries are learn from the Philippine experience