RP maids in HK list down GMA’s 7 unluckiest acts against OFWs

Press Release
19 January 2008

For reference:
Dolores Balladares, Chairperson
United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL - Migrante HK)
Tel. No.: 97472986

GMA is the bringer of bad luck to Pinoys abroad
RP maids in HK list down GMA’s 7 unluckiest acts against OFWs

If there is an unlucky seven for OFWs, it will be the seven years of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This was declared today by Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) on the eve of the seventh year in office of GMA.

“GMA, of the recent presidents, now officially holds the longest running record of bringing the worst of luck to Filipino migrant workers and our families,” she said. As GMA’s seventh year commences, the group listed down the “seven unluckiest deeds” of her government against OFWs that included:

• the rising exchange rate of the peso that has cost Filipino migrants in Hong Kong more than P6,000 per month while prices of commodities in the Philippine soar even higher;
• implementation of the POEA Guidelines for Filipino domestic workers abroad that paved the way for worse overcharging of recruitment agencies ;
• implementation of the OWWA Omnibus Policies that took away many of the already limited assistance of the said agency to OFWs and family while giving a freer rein for GMA to plunder the fund;
• criminal neglect of distressed OFWs as shown by the cases of Marilou Ranario, Jocelyn Dunluan and scores of others who are on death row in the Middle East;
• keeping OFWs milking cows through various government fees charged in the Philippines and even more charges paid in Philippine posts abroad;
• inaction in issues that will at least alleviate the situation of Filipinos abroad including the call for wage increase, improvement of labor situation and protection of the rights of undocumented migrants;
• plunging the country into worse poverty while corruption intensifies, bribery gets more widespread and human rights violations increase.

“If the six years of GMA is a yardstick of her seventh year in power, then migrant workers, our families back home and the Filipinos in general are again facing an even bleaker year,”

Balladares added. Balladares remarked that their group shall further advance their participation in the campaign to remove GMA from office. “We want our luck to change and bringing down GMA– the bringer of bad luck – is the way to do it,” she concluded.