As women in the Philippines commemorate International Women’s Day with mass actions, women migrant workers under Migrante International declared March 8 a “Zero Remittance Day” as a symbolic protest to continue the call for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Starting April, OFWs would withhold their remittances every fifth of the month.

BY AUBREY MAKILAN
MIGRANT WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 6, March 9-15, 2008

As women in the Philippines commemorate International Women’s Day with mass actions, women migrant workers under Migrante International have declared March 8 a “Zero Remittance Day” as a symbolic protest to continue the call for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Supporting the call for no-remittance day were Migrante chapters in Australia, Switzerland, and Middle East countries Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Migrante chapters and network groups in different countries have set the fifth day of every month after March 8 as the “Zero Remittance Day,” said Maita Santiago, Migrante International secretary general.

The “Zero Remittance Day” action which is also part of their campaign to oust the President was first done in Hong Kong on March 2. Thirteen Filipino migrant groups under the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK) participated in the activity.

In Saudi Arabia, “Zero Remittance Days” were scheduled from March 3-8.

Saudi and Hong Kong are among the top destination countries of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Deputy presidential spokesman Lorelei Fajardo said that this move is “irresponsible and tantamount to economic sabotage” that could only lead to more economic problems for the country and families of Filipinos abroad. The Palace expressed confidence that OFWs will reject this move, noting that OFWs would not want to affect adversely the living conditions of their families in the Philippines.

Santiago said that Arroyo is the real economic saboteur not the OFWs, given the alleged long list of ‘crimes’ committed by the Arroyo administration not only against the OFWs and their families, but against the Filipino people in general. Among the alleged anomalies of the administration using the OFW money are the transfer of the P530 million Medicare Fund for OFWs to PhilHealth and the US$293,500 released to Ambassador Roy Cimatu supposedly for massive evacuation operations in the Middle East during the U.S.-Iraq war in April 2003, and the alleged “continuous criminal neglect of OFWs by the government.”

“OFWs are not to blame for the ills of this country,” Santiago said. “By essentially ‘plundering’ the economy through billion peso kickbacks and other instances of high-level corruption, Gloria is the real economic saboteur. Instead of a ‘strong peso,’ what we have is a fake peso that translates into higher prices. Her lies about a ‘strong economy’ are bursting at the seams given spiralling oil prices and the looming increases in food prices, including pandesal.”

Santiago added that this is a joint decision of OFWs and their families. She noted that OFWs are discouraged to remit only on the scheduled day which is usually only once a month. In case of emergency, she said that OFWs could still remit through informal channels like door-to-door services instead of bank transactions.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas shows that overseas Filipinos remitted $14.3 billion through the banking system last year.

“That amounts to more than US$30 million daily. Even (former Socio-Economic Planning) Secretary (Romulo) Neri acknowledged that through our remittances, we are treated by Arroyo as an ‘exhaust valve’ for her bankrupt economy. We will no longer stand idly by while she relies on us to prop up her ailing economy,” Santiago said.

“They should not blame OFWs for the bankrupt economy. It’s bankrupt already because of her policies,” she said.

Aside from participating in the ”Zero Remittance Day,” women migrants also joined March 8 protests staged in different Philippine posts and embassies in their host countries, such as in Hong Kong and the United States.

Meanwhile, migrant groups are also preparing for the death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, a domestic helper hanged in Singapore on March 17, 1995 for allegedly murdering her ward.

On March 17, migrant groups and their families here will stage a protest in Mendiola.

“Matapos ang labintatlong taon mula nang bitayin si Flor Contemplacion, ganito pa rin ang sitwasyon ng mga migrante at kanilang pamilya” (Thirteen years after Flor Contemplacion’s execution, the situation of migrants and their families stays the same), said Santiago. “Sisingilin namin si Gloria sa tuluy-tuloy na kalbaryo ng migrante at kanilang mga pamilya” (We will call on Gloria to account for the continuing sufferings of migrants and their families.) (Bulatlat.com)

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