Calling it a sugar-coated extortion scheme, Migrante International said that the policy reforms issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) which supposedly sets a minimum wage of $200-$400 for domestic workers abroad, prohibits the charging of placement fees, but requires them to undergo training, at a cost of P10, 000 to P15, 000 ($218 – $327), before being deployed is a total failure and nothing but a show off.
BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
MIGRANT WATCH
Vol VII, No. 23 July 15-21
Seven months since the implementation of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Guidelines, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) assessed that it was nothing but “a show-off.”
The POEA policy reforms were instituted to supposedly provide Filipino household service workers (HSWs) a cover of protection from potential abuse and exploitation abroad.
Under the new guidelines, those applying as domestic helpers abroad had to undergo additional training under POEA’s Pre-Qualification for Household Service Workers scheme. The training would cost them P10, 000-P15, 000 ($218 – $327 at an exchange rate of $1=P45.75). Aside from this, the guideline sets the minimum wage of overseas domestic workers to $200 to $400. It also stipulates that no placement fee should be charged to applicants, but limits the minimum age to 23 years old.
Various migrant groups, many of which are under the network of Migrante International, have protested the guidelines, calling it as a “sugar-coated extortion scheme.”
“Undoubtedly, the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government simply aims to legalize state extortion to rake millions of pesos from overseas Filipino workers while putting the latter to greater risks,” said the APMM.
“Even with the introduction of exemptions as answer to the overwhelming indignation from migrant workers, service providers and church groups, the trainings, assessment, competency and language certificates by the Arroyo government did not prevent early contract termination and abuses,” it said, noting that there are new hirees and returning domestic workers reporting their dismissal after five days to less than three months of work.
The migrant group also said that there has been no move to investigate and stop the collection of P500-P30, 000 fees ($10.92 – $655) being charged for trainings provided by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and its accredited training centers, which were allegedly mostly owned by or partners of recruitment agencies. Based on the latest POEA resolution, newly-hired maids are required to undergo a competency assessment administered by the TESDA and a language and culture training from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The APMM also said the two components of the POEA guidelines that the Administration brags about ? the prohibition in collecting placement fees whether done prior to departure or onsite salary deduction, and the US$400 minimum entry salary ? was a failure.
The group said recruitment agencies in the Philippines and its counterparts in host countries “go around the ‘no placement fee.’”
In Dubai, it said that HSWs supposedly entitled to US$400 do not receive “the whole salary in itself.” Instead, the salary was broken down to US$250 actual salary and the remaining US$150 serves as their food allowance. In Saudi Arabia, the monthly salary rate remains at US$200 or less.
For the APMM, “it is both laughable and ridiculous for a government to promise a minimum entry wage” without a signed prior agreement with the host government.
The group calls anew the scrapping of the POEA Guidelines scheme.
In the immediate, the APMM urged the Philippine government “to put in place a set of concrete policies and substantial mechanisms with the host governments that will guarantee its nationals a minimum entry wage commensurate to their labor, the abolition of anti-migrant policies, immediate redress for distressed OFWs, and prosecution of abusive recruitment agencies.”
Instead of failing schemes such as the POEA policy reforms, the migrant group said that “the Arroyo administration has to address the ever worsening crisis of job insecurity and abject poverty in the country.”(Bulatlat.com)
