HK OFWs present ten-point demands

Aquino admin urged to undo anti-migrant policies of GMA regime
HK OFWs present ten-point demands

Press Release
27 June 2010

For reference:
Dolores T. Balladares
Chairperson, Tel. No.: 97472986

“Undo Arroyo’s regime of neglect and extortion.”

This was the challenge posed by Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE HK) to soon-to-be installed President Noynoy Aquino who is scheduled to get inducted to the highest office in the country this Wednesday.

The statement was issued in a press conference held at Chater Road, Central conducted by the group together with other alliances and organizations to make public the ten-point agenda of Filipino migrants in Hong Kong “President-elect Noynoy Aquino can start fulfilling his promise for positive change by, first and foremost, scrapping Arroyo’s policies to OFWs that transformed us as cash cows of her corrupt regime and made concrete services to us mere pipe-dreams,” Balladares said.

One of the foremost demands that the OFWs called for President-elect Aquino to act on is the “overpriced” e-passport issued in Hong Kong. Balladares said that said passport is three times the price as that in the Philippines.

“Why should passports here be ridiculously more expensive than back home? Passport price is the prerogative of the president and Aquino can very well set it if he wishes to,” she remarked.

Aside from this, Balladares also mentioned the OWWA Omnibus Policies, implemented in 2001, as another policy that worsens the condition of OFWs. She reported that said policy further constricted the benefits that OFWs can avail of from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) through the General Financial Assistance Program.

“For more than nine years, the Arroyo regime has given nothing but misery to the OFWs. Arroyo abused her executive power using the billions of pesos OWWA funds as her piggy bank. To achieve this, she put in position her own people to ensure the smooth flow of money to finance her own interests,” Balladares-Pelaez stressed.

Balladares also hit the POEA Guidelines for Hiring Filipino Household Service Workers that she said removed placement fees to recruitment agencies while allowing for even bigger fees through the training it has imposed to new overseas Filipino domestic workers. The Arroyo government further subjected OFWs to the whims of recruitment agencies through the ban on direct hiring it implemented last year.

“It is time to correct the sins committed by the Arroyo regime! President-elect Noynoy can set the tone of his promised humane and just governance,” Balladares-Pelaez stated.

Hong Kong Filipinos cast their vote of confidence and trust in Noynoy in the recent national elections placing him number one here. It is incumbent for Aquino, she remarked, to respond to the demands of HK OFWs.

The HK OFWs’ ten-point agenda:

1. Scrapping of the OWWA Omnibus Policies;
2. Scrapping of the Ban on direct hiring;
3. Scrapping of the POEA Guidelines;
4. Reduce the cost of passport to the amount similar to the cost in the Philippines;
5. OEC should be given free of charge;
6. Reduce the cost of employment contract processing, remove the authentication fee;
7. Provide free medical and legal services on site;
8. Release the COMELEC Voter’s ID;
9. Stop overcharging/illegal collection of recruitment agencies; and
10. No examination fee for teachers, nurses and midwives abroad.

“We keep watch for the approval of these demands. President-elect Noynoy’s time starts now,” Balladares-Pelaez concluded.

--
The Secretariat
United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK)
2/F., New Hall, St. John's Cathedral,
4 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. (852) 31562447 Fax. (852) 25262894
E-mail: secretariat@unifil.org.hk
Website: http://www.unifil.org.hk
Blog: compatriots.blogspot.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/unifilhk

Migrante slams new POEA memo on direct hiring

News Release
February 1, 2008

For reference: Connie Bragas-Regalado,
Chairperson (0927-215-7392)

Migrante slams new POEA memo on direct hiring

An alliance of organizations composed of overseas Filipinos and theirfamilies today slammed the new POEA guidelines on direct hiring asanother Arroyo scheme against the interests of OFWs.

"Mafiosi is the most apt description for these new POEA guidelines. It exposes the Arroyo administration as a ruthless thug whose message is that all activities in its labor exportation alley must fall under its `protection racket'. We demand no less than the immediatescrapping of POEA MC 04," says Connie Bragas-Regalado, MigranteInternational Chairperson.

The POEA MC 04 was implemented last December 2007 and it covers all foreign employers wishing to directly hire Filipino workers. It also requires foreign employers to post a Performance Bond equivalent to 3 months salary of the OFW and a US$5,000 Repatriation Bond."

Although the Arroyo administration is sure to justify these bonds asinsurance for the welfare of the OFW, it is clearly nothing but`grease money' in that foreign employers will only be allowed to recruit if they fork out the necessary funds.

The painful reality here for OFWs is that employers usually extract their recruitment costs from the OFWs themselves – either through their maximum exploitation or through direct deductions from their salary," she added.

Central Bank figures indicate remittances from overseas Filipinos lastyear was around US$14 billion while state exactions or fees by OFWs tovarious government agencies amount to approximately P13 billion annually.

Global actions against the POEA MC 04"OFWs around the world are already in an uproar against this latest exploitative scheme. We commit to intensifying the campaign to demandits immediate scrapping. Further, given that this scheme underlineshow Arroyo will never implement policies for our genuine benefit – we will also strengthen the campaign for her immediate ouster," said Bragas-Regalado.

As part of its campaign to scrap POEA MC 04 and oppose other unjust anti-migrant policies, a petition campaign and a series of protest actions in the Philippines, Italy, Hong Kong, the Middle East and other countries is being spearheaded by Migrante International and its member organizations in the coming weeks. #

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.

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