MIGRANT WATCH
20,000 OCWs in Macau are Defenseless

Unless the Philippine government set up a consular office in Macau soon, many of some 20,000 Filipino contract workers may end up in jail or become victims of harassment without any protection.

By Edgar Cadagat and Karl Ombion
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-Ans

BACOLOD CITY – Many of some 20,000 Filipinos in Macau now face danger ranging from exploitation to possible prosecution without the benefit of protection let alone a lawyer. This is because, despite the big number of Filipino contract workers there, there is no Philippine consular office that would attend to their needs in case of danger.

Insiders from the Office of Workers Welfare Administration (OWWS) in this city raised this possibility, adding that hundreds of thousands of other overseas contract workers (OCWs) face similar hazards in other countries due to illegal recruitment and other perennial problems.

OWWA sources said almost all Filipinos who moved to Macau work in casinos, hotels and restaurants. The former Portuguese colony reverted to China a few years ago and continues to depend on the service industry as it remains a haven for both domestic and foreign tourists.

The Philippine government wanted to establish a consular office on the island but the Chinese government thumbed it down as they could not agree on some issues. The government, therefore, has difficulties looking after the welfare of Filipinos working in this pint-sized former colony, the same sources, who requested anonymity, said.

They also revealed that OCWs continue to face problems of illegal recruitment although, they warned, many of them are also to blame. Being without work permits and other papers, these workers could be subjected to harassment and other threats by host governments.

In the case of recruitment agencies, major irregularities in the placement of workers for abroad, is the faking of job order, the document presented to the OWWA which indicates the specific number of jobs available.

Job orders are proof that jobs could be had by those seeking them. In many cases, however, job ordered are faked by recruiting agencies. Once the applicants arrive in the countries where they are supposed to work in there are no jobs for them. Duped, these workers end up as “TNTs” (in Filipino, literally tago-ng-tago or playing hide and seek) and are victimized by unscrupulous employers who hire and treat them no better than modern-day slave laborers. Many women end up as prostitutes or commercial sex workers.

Often the workers suffer a double whammy, gypped as they are by recruiters who charge them exorbitant fees before their papers are processed. The average fees applicants are charged range from P70,000 to P100,000.

Desperate to work

Those desperate to work abroad as nurses pay as much as P100,000 or even more. In a case in Bacolod, applicants who sought work in the United States as nurses had to shell as much as P200,000 to the recruiter. Some filed charges against their recruiter after failing to even leave for abroad.

In the case of domestic helpers, all that they need shell out is a month's salary but recruiters exploit their desperation to work abroad by charging them as much as a half-year's salary as placement fees.

At the moment there is a big market for Filipino nurses abroad especially in the United States and Canada.

Lately, Japan has emerged as a destination for Filipino nurses with Japanese families beginning to see the worth of Filipino workers. Domestic helpers are also beginning to be employed increasingly in Japanese homes. The major problem is the red tape encountered by the families from their government if they wish to employ Filipinos in their households.

Many nurses going abroad come from Western Visayas and Mindanao. Many domestic helpers in Singapore and Hongkong also hail from here.

On the average, domestic helpers in the ASEAN region get only $400 monthly pay. OWWA statistics also reveal that huge remittances come from Western countries including the United States and Canada. These remittances, government authorities concede, prop up the Philippine economy. Bulatlat.com/Cobra-Ans

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