The government is considering the possibility of suspending the deployment of Filipino workers in the Middle East countries due to rising cases of abuses and maltreatments of Filipino workers, particularly domestic helpers, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
“I received a lot of concerns and complaints from our Filipino household workers in the Middle East. This is why I am seriously considering, if not to suspend, to decrease the number of deployment of domestic helpers, OFWs, and skilled workers especially in the Middle East,” Bello said.
Bello said that OFWs, especially those deployed in Arab countries, are highly susceptible to abuses by their employers.
Migrant groups said there are more than 5,000 distressed OFWs different countries in the Middle East, with Kuwait having the highest number of distressed OFWs now housed in POLO-OWWA centers in the Middle East, most of whom are victims of verbal, physical, or sexual abuse.
But at the time, the labor chief said the country has scarce skilled workers such as carpenters, electrician, plumber, because they choose to work overseas for a much higher pay.
“We are studying the level of shortage of our skilled workers in the country. Even I had experienced this. Before, I can easily get a plumber at a much lesser cost, but now, even if you offer a considerable amount of fee, these skilled workers would ignore you. So we should now slow down in processing the deployment of these skilled workers,” Bello said.
He said the Labor Department is fast-tracking the training of skilled workers to immediately address the shortage problem.
“They are in demand. Skilled workers shortage problem in the country is big. I am in talks with our agencies to fast-track their training for the benefit of the country. We need to prioritize our own skilled workers,” he said.
He added that after the training of the skilled workers that is the time when they can acquire more experience and get better jobs and positions in the country for a much higher wages and benefits.
In a related development, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III called for the immediate passage of a bill establishing a Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (DOFW) that will exclusively cater to the interests of over two-million Filipinos working overseas
Senate Bill No. 1445, or the DOFW Act, aims to streamline various government programs and initiatives for OFWs that are currently spread among various government agencies.
Pimentel said the need for the creation of a DOFW are both urgent and practical.
“We have 2.4-million Filipinos working overseas who can’t get immediate and efficient assistance from a centralized government agency that exclusively caters to their needs and their welfare,” said the legislator from Mindanao.
“We’ve been sending Filipino workers abroad since the 70s but till today, we don’t have a single, unified department for them. The time to address this governmental vacuum is now,” he added.
Pimentel noted that cash remittances from OFWs set record highs in 2016, reaching 26.9 billion US dollars, which is five percent higher compared to 2015’s 25.61 billion.
“I share the sentiment of finance and economic experts who say that the Philippine economy will not survive without the steady influx of OFW remittances. Our OFWs are truly our modern-day heroes.”
Because of this, Pimentel said it is only appropriate that one centralized agency cater to the needs of Filipinos working beyond our shores.
“When OFWs are in distress and seek government help, we tell them to go to the DFA, POEA, OWWA, DoLE, and other agencies which require a high level of coordination that is difficult to achieve with separate agencies,” Pimentel said
The Senate chief added that “our bureaucracy doesn’t have integrated strategies for assisting our OFWs and their families. What happens is we repeatedly bounce them off these agencies like ping pong balls. Hindi dapat ganyan ang trato natin sa mga bagong bayani ng bayan.” {We should not treat our modern heroes this way).
The DOFW Act would transfer the functions of several agencies to the newly-created agency, which would also absorb their respective personnel. The agencies include the Office of the Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers Affairs of the DFA; all Philippine Overseas Labor Offices under DOLE; the National Reintegration Center for OFWS under DOLE; the International Labor Affairs Bureau under DOLE; the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA); and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The measure would also establish a five billion-peso Special Assistance to Nationals Fund (SATNAF) for OFWs in distress to be administered and maintained by the new agency.
Pimentel emphasized that despite the proposed creation of the DOFW, the government would continue with its long-term objective of developing domestic employment and creating local job opportunities so that Filipinos would not be forced to work abroad and leave their families.
Latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that overseas contract workers, or OFWs with working contracts, comprise 96% or 2.2 million of the total overseas workforce while the remaining 4% or approximately 92,000 are employed without contracts.
Laborers and unskilled workers make up the largest group of OFWs at 32.8% while clerks comprise 5.3%. Professionals meanwhile account for an 11.4% share. The proportion of female OFWs is higher than males at 51.1% compared to 48.9%.
