Humanitarian NGO Hiring OFWs for Japan Sweatshops

An agency claiming to be a “humanitarian training” NGO has been accused of recruiting Negrenses for Japanese sweat shops. Migrante-Negros, which exposed the irregularity, asked local officials to investigate.

BY KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat

BACOLOD CITY – An agency claiming to be a “humanitarian training” NGO has been accused of recruiting Negrenses for Japanese sweat shops. Migrante-Negros, which exposed the irregularity, asked local officials to investigate.

In a news conference held here July 30, Migrante-Negros, an association of OFWs and their families, accused the Negros-Japan Human Resource Exchange Association Inc. (NJHREA) as an “exploitative recruitment agency, masquerading as a humanitarian training non-government organization.”

Larry Occena, Migrante-Negros chair, said that the NJHREA is “an unscrupulous recruitment agency profiting from the near slave labor of Negrenses recruited for work in Japan.”

Out of the 60 OFWs recruited by the NGO who are now in Japan, four have come out to belie the agency’s claim of being a “humanitarian training” group.

Occena cited testimonies of the four OFW victims of the agency who approached Migrante for assistance. The victims’ account of their experience with NJHREA revealed a tale of deception, exploitation and greed, he said.

A press conference was earlier called by NJHREA officers, headed by its president Roberto Montelibano, legal counsel Joseph Marigomen, and executive secretary Boy Zayco, claiming the contribution of their NGO to “job generation in the province.”

The officers also pledged to continue their work despite problems involving some of their trainees and the negative impact on their partner organizations in Japan.

Sweatshops

Contrary to NJHREA’s public projection as a “human resource center” assisting government in “training” Negrense workers in Japan, Occena said, the agency has been systematically sending Negrenses to sweat shops in Japan and profit millions of pesos as a result.

A recruit, euphemistically called a “trainee,” said Occena, starts his job processing with a crash course in Nippongo. The “trainee” is given P200 allowance daily for six weeks, which is only half of the P400 daily day allowance given by Marucon, the multi-contracting agency partner of NJHREA in Japan. The recruits are promised that after training in Minami, Tokyo they will be hired as workers in the construction of the Silay International Airport upon their return in Negros.

Occena said a memorandum of agreement (MoA) is signed between Philippine-Japan Technical Skills Development Association (PJTSDA), the mother organization of NJHREA, and each recruit after the training. The MoA stipulates that a “trainee” will receive an allowance of Y80,000 a month – about P40,000 - for food and living allowance while in Japan. Another Y20,000 of the total fund which should have been given to the recruits is taken by NJHREA presumably for a “trust fund” redeemable after completion of the contract.

Subcontractors

PJTSDA facilitates the trip of recruits to Japan. In Japan, the recruits are housed in a hotel and are given a “safety orientation” and “how to remit money and mail to the Philippines.” The recruits are then assigned by Marucon to various subcontractors in Japan.

Negrense recruits in Japan, Occena said, work a minimum 16-18 hours a day. Complaints of workers concerning their bad health are not entertained and are forced to continue working. Occena added that despite their status as full-time workers, they are asked to answer to Japanese immigration officials that they “don’t work” but are only “trainees.”

Migrante cited the cases of Aldwin Geduriagao and Jemcy Hanz Pilla, both recruits of NJHREA. Geduriagao’s contract was about to expire in 23 days when he was charged with taking marijuana – a trumped-up case, he said. To redeem himself, he asked for a drug test but was repeatedly denied. Deprived of his wages for 22 days and recovery of his trust fund, Aldwin was forced to return to the Philippines.

Pilla, on the other hand, met an accident while on work. Denied medical treatment, his health deteriorated. He was left for good in a hotel with just an airplane ticket and without money. He was not paid his one-month salary and the reimbursement of his medical expenses. Like Geduriagao, he too was forced to return home.

Occena said, this scheme of doing overseas work under the pretext of training is not new in Japan. In fact, hundreds of Chinese “trainees” were deported from Japan when found by Japanese authorities.

The Migrante leader called on the city and provincial officials to investigate the NJHREA and give justice to its victims. He also said that Migrante will push for a congressional inquiry on the case through the Party-list representatives of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela. Bulatlat

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