CARAM Asia Statement:

100 years old women’s day: migrant women robbed off rights
CARAM Asia’s Statement on International Women's Day

KUALA LUMPUR 8 March, 2010: 100 years after the world recognized the role of women in society, women are still robbed off their rights.

On the occasion of the 100th year anniversary of International Women's Day, CARAM Asia calls upon governments in both sending and receiving countries to protect the rights of migrant women who constitute more than half of the migrant population in the world today. CARAM Asia also urges States to invest in the health -including sexual, reproductive and HIV programmes and services - and education of women to ensure that migration becomes a choice rather than a necessity for survival.

In an increasingly globalised world, female migrant workers face intersectional discrimination of class, race, religion, and gender due to statelessness or their irregular status. Neo-liberal strategies have caused the commodification of women’s labour whereby profits rest on women’s labour and sexuality. Influenced by market fundamentalism and pro-capitalism, the business sector prey on women’s labour as a means to gain from a workforce which is unskilled, cheap and deemed as easily subjugated by state and employers. Governments must ensure women are protected against scrupulous agents who sell women’s labour and employers who exploit them.

Women’s labour are either not accorded value or given low value as their labour continues to be viewed as a natural extension of women’s traditional, unpaid role as mothers and care providers contributing solely to social reproduction. Local domestic workers are forced to become part-timers or informal workers without any labour rights, meanwhile their foreign counterparts are hired as live in “maids” which makes them easily controlled by employers. With the advent of globalisation, poverty and the collapse of the rural economy, more women have been pushed out to work mostly in the domestic work sector, either at home or crossing boundaries to take on employment as foreign domestic workers (FDWs). These FDWs are today akin to modern day slaves.

Despite a spate of FDW reported abuse in the media, both Malaysian and Indonesian government have not agreed on ways to improve the working conditions for Indonesian domestic workers.

Negotiations for the new MOU have been going on for over half a year now, but with little transparency and consultation between civil society of both countries. The news that trickles out suggests a lack of reforms and commitments in ensuring that domestic workers are recognized as full workers, with all labour rights accorded to them.

By June this year, the international community with governments, trade unions and employers associations vote for or against the setting up of an international labour standard to grant labour rights to domestic work. CARAM Asia urges states with voting power in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to cast their vote in support for a Convention supplemented by a recommendation to protect the rights of domestic workers who are predominantly migrant women.

CARAM Asia calls upon States to:

1. Amend existing local laws or enact new laws to be in line with the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (MWC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

2. Extend equal protection of the labour laws to women migrant workers in informal sectors like domestic work. Domestic workers should be granted the rights to a just wage, overtime pay, weekly rest days, benefits, and workers’ compensation.

3. Address the violation of human rights and women’s specific vulnerabilities in the process of migration by providing an empowering environment in both sending and receiving countries where women have job options to work in their country of origin.

4. Ensure migrant women’s access to gender sensitive public health and support services including sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services.

5. Remove mandatory health and pregnancy testing policies and the following deportation of pregnant women migrants, migrants tested positive for HIV and other illnesses.

6. Remove requirement for migrant women to seek destination governments’ permission to marry men in destination countries.

CARAM Asia is NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is an open network of NGOs and CBOs, consisting of 38 members covering 18 countries in Asia and the Middle East. Visit www.caramasia.org for more information on CARAM Asia.

APMM on IWD

Statement of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants
on the 100th year Anniversary of the International Women's Day

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) is one with the exploited women of the world in the commemoration of the 100th year of the International Women's Day and in their continuing fight for comprehensive rights in society.

Many of such oppressed women are migrant workers and immigrants including those who are undocumented or in an irregular status. Their conditions have been exacerbated by the failure of neo-liberal globalization and have led to more discriminatory and restrictive policies imposed by governments of labour importing countries.

One such policy is the national verification scheme of Thailand which is a guise to set the stage for a massive crackdown on undocumented foreign workers and refugees which already started in March 3. This would affect a million and a half persons, most of who are from Burma.

In the Middle East and in Taiwan most of those who run away from their employers are female domestic workers who were abused. Instead of being accorded protection and assistance by government authorities, those who were accused by their employers of absconding in the Middle East end up being jailed instead.

While in South Korea, Macau, Malaysia and in many other countries there is no let up in the intensification of the crackdown on undocumented migrant workers many of whom are women. Being in an irregular status makes them criminals in the eyes of these governments. And they have no rights whatsoever and physical and sexual abuse on them is done with impunity.

Even those who offer humanitarian assistance to them like food and shelter are likewise categorized as criminals. In Macau there is a new law being discussed that would make it a criminal offense for one who rents out a flat to undocumented migrants. Ironically, there is another law set to take effect on April 26, 2010 that would push migrant workers to become undocumented. This pertains to a provision which stipulates that if a non-resident worker initiates the termination of a contract without just cause he/she would be banned to work in the territory for 6 months.

Ironically, some of the countries in the region that are some of the most vicious to attack the rights of women are also in the ASEAN formation that will soon come up with a regional instrument on the rights of women and children.

Indeed the lives of these women who toil far from their shores are almost similar to the conditions of working women in industrially developing countries 100 years ago. There is still a lot of effort needed to be done in organizing and empowering migrant women workers including those who are undocumented and in encouraging more people to advocate their cause. Examples of this include the member organizations of KASAMMAKO (a Filipino alliance) and the formation of the Migrants Trade Union (MTU) both in South Korea.

Other than this, we shall advance and continue to develop unities achieved in the formations like the AMMORE or Action Network for Marriage Migrants Rights and Empowerment, the network on undocumented migrants and the Migrants Caucus on the ASEAN

We shall also push the advocacies on domestic workers of the United for Foreign Domestic Workers’ Rights (UFDWR) and contribute to the strengthening and expansion of the International Migrants Alliance or IMA.

We enjoin all grassroots women to actively take part in the establishment of the International Women’s Alliance in August this year. The formation of the IWA shall be another important milestone in the continuing struggle of women for emancipation.

Until the cause for freedom and social justice is achieved, the fire that started in the first International Women’s Day shall continue to burn in the oppressed women of the world,


March 8, 2010

==============================
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
G/F, No.2 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. no.: (852) 2723-7536
Fax no.: (852) 2735-4559
General E-mail: apmm@hknet.com
Other Email Addresses:Managing Director : director@apmigrants.org / rbultron@gmail.comAdvocacy Program : advocacy@apmigrants.org / rbultron@gmail.comResearch and Publication: publications@apmigrants.org / ahc@hknet.comWomen's Program : women@apmigrants.org / ecbuhay@gmail.com
WEBSITE: http://www.apmigrants.org/

"We dream of a society where families are not broken up by the urgent need for survival. We dream and will actively work for a homeland where there is opportunity for everyone to live a decent and humane life."

Migrante KSA to help send Satur and Liza to Senate

Press Release
6 March 2010

Most active Filipino migrants’ alliance vows to help send Ka Satur and Liza Maza in the Senate

An alliance of Filipino migrant workers based in the Middle East today vows to help bring MAKABAYAN coalition and NP guest Senatorial candidates Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza to the Senate.

Migrante members in Saudi Arabia yesterday held an outdoor proclamation assembly in Riyadh, central capital of Saudi Arabia formally declaring its support to Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, both vying for a Senate seat on the May 10, 2010 elections.

“It is an opportune time for Filipino migrant workers and their families to elect patriotic, nationalist, and principled candidates in the Senate -the like of Ka Satur and Liza Maza should be in the Senate,” declared by Eric Jocson, Chairperson of the Riyadh-based Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS), member-organization of Migrante, during yesterday’s proclamation assembly.

Jocson added that Ka Satur and Liza Maza’s proven track records in advancing the interest, rights and welfare of Filipino workers including OFWs could easily be noticed and remembered by the half a million Overseas absentee voters and their dependents in the Philippines.

“Their uncompromising stand defending the rights and welfare of the Filipino migrant workers gave them an edge and advantage compared to other candidates, thus OFWs and their families would vote for them as respected law maker of the Upper chamber of the next Congress,” Jocson added.

On his part, Rodel Makalintal, Migrante-KSA Campaign Officer said starting yesterday after the successful Senatorial proclamation of Ka Satur and Liza Maza in Riyadh; Migrante members will conduct massive electoral campaign and gather supports and votes from the most numbers of OFWs in the Kingdom.

“Since, open electoral exercise is prohibited by the host government, we will conduct discreet house-to-house, going around and visiting the accommodations of our fellow OFWs, distributing flyers and leaflets to our fellow OFWs and conduct indoor meetings amongst our fellow OFWs to discuss our MAKABAYAN platform and other OFWs issues and concerns,” Makalintal added.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator said other Migrante chapters in the Middle East will also conduct their respective proclamation assemblies in support of Ka Satur and Liza Maza in the coming days.

“Members and officers of Migrante in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Israel, Jordan and Libya will conduct their own electoral campaign as the overseas absentee voting will commence on April 10, 2010,” Monterona added.

“Since our own party-list, the Migrante Sectoral Party has been delisted by the COMELEC by mere technicality but obviously a political manuever to discredit the most active and most vocal anti-Arroyo OFWs group, we once again will throw our support to Gabriela Womens’ Party for the party-list,” Monterona declared.

Monterona added that they have been working with Gabriela Representative Luz Ilagan for quite sometime on issues and concerns of Filipino migrant women; “We will continue to be working with the most active Women’s partylist group in the next Congress in advancing our Migrants legislative agenda,” Monterona averred.

“In fact, we are looking forward to the formation of Gabriela chapters in Saudi Arabia that is composed of OFW-women victims, run away and distress, in the coming days to come,” Monterona added.

Monterona further said Migrante chapters in the Middle East will also be supporting the tandem of Senators Manny Villar and Loren Legarda.

“Our support to Villar-Loren tandem does not come from nowhere. It is based on principle and platform which we believed theirs is providing a concrete strategy to address the problem of forced labor migration, which is rooted in joblessness and landlessness, this we didn’t find from the other candidates. Sen. Villar has a plan of action on agrarian reform, on the development of local industries, and the protection and upliftment of the working peoples,” Monterona said.

Aside from this, Monterona quoting Migrante International, the largest alliance of OFWs and their families, said the Sen. Manny Villar and Rep. Cynthia Villar have significantly contributed to Migrante’s efforts to empower OFWs and their families through educating them of their basic rights and privileges; they have also extended tangible assistance to migrant workers in distress, giving them opportunities to rebuild their lives. “It is high time that in these elections, the people’s issues and problems including of the Filipino migrants will be the center of one’s choice in electing candidates who are capable of providing solutions to their problems and concerns,” the Saudi-based OFW leader ended. # # #


Reference:
John Leonard Monterona
Migrante Middle East regional coordinator
Mobile No.: 00966 564 97 8012

A Complete Reversal

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)
2/F Doña Anita Bldg, 284 E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City
Telefax: (02) 725 4760
Email: headphil@gmail.com

A Complete Reversal
Statement on the Commemoration of EDSA People Power I
22 February 2010

Today, as the nation commemorates the historic EDSA People Power I uprising, the continuing illegal detention and torture of 43 health workers by the Philippine military stands as a manifest and complete reversal of everything that EDSA I stood for.

While EDSA I ended the Marcos dictatorship and all its attendant evils, the Arroyo regime has restored much of these. Patronage politics and crony capitalism are stronger than ever, albeit called by other names.

Imeldific dinners and lavish spending abroad hog the headlines, while more than half of the population goes hungry. Institutions and processes of our so-called democracy are undermined for political exigencies.

Over the last nine years, we have witnessed not just the decline of our social landscape but also the growing ascendancy of military rule.

Today, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police continue to disregard the basic tenets of due process and defy even the highest courts of the land. Today, these state security forces remain the top human rights violators in the country.

Today, like the 43 health workers, everyone and anyone can be their victim.

Anyone can be arrested arbitrarily, handcuffed, and blindfolded for almost two days. Anyone can be deprived of sleep, subjected to hours of interrogation, and denied legal counsel. Anyone can be tortured and harassed sexually while under detention.

Anyone, like the 43 health workers, can subjected to the worst forms of abuse and humiliation simply by being accused, through lies and fabricated evidence, as a New People’s Army member.
All of these are with the blessings of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, AFP commander-in-chief and highest-ranking civilian authority. Hers is a rule marked by everything that was abominable with the Marcos dictatorship: unbridled greed and corruption, insatiable lust for power, and utter dependence on the armed strength of state security forces.

Today, it is not enough that Filipinos live “lives of quiet desperation”. Regardless of what we are doing, we live under the naked power of the military, like a sword over our heads.

The continuing detention of the 43 health workers is an irony, if not a tragedy, that highlights the meaninglessness of any commemoration of EDSA People Power I. The innocents who suffer will earmark our government’s backward march to history.

This kind of existence is unacceptable. We demand change. We demand respect for our basic liberties and fundamental rights. We demand an end to martial rule.

Free the 43 health workers now.

Dr. Geneve E. Rivera
Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712

Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos
Vice-Chair, 0927 483 2325

Dr. Darby S. Santiago
Chair, 0927 473 7700

Women OFWs in Saudi Arabia link arms

to repatriate stranded OFWs and their children immediately and for free!




Women OFWs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia linked arms on Friday to protest what they claim as government's abandonment of its responsibility to the plight of 'stranded' Filipinos by charging for air-tickets.

Beth Medina, Gabriela Women's Party - Jeddah Chapter Spokesperson, revealed that local Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) staff was charging SAR 400 to SAR 900 per child as payment for their repatriation air-ticket.

Acting on complaints by stranded women, Medina claimed OWWA would not shoulder the cost of air-ticket because the children are "not OWWA members" thus, are not included in the agency's budget for repatriation of 'stranded' overseas Filipino workers.

"This is absurd!" Medina exclaims. "These children of 'stranded' OFWs are already forced in a very vulnerable situation brought about by the "undocumented" status of their parents. These are children of OFWs who have paid their OWWA fees and have contributed in keeping the Philippine economy in more ways than one. What's keeping the government to shoulder their repatriation?"

In a letter sent to OWWA dated 22 February 2010, Medina along with other local Migrante leaders outlined their call to immediately repatriate all, and at no cost to the 'stranded Pinoys'.

"Whether we like it or else, the Philippine government have already benefitted from the ('stranded' Pinoys) in various ways, primarily through the payment of numerous fees and requirements before they left the country and through the remittances that they have made during their stay here in Saudi Arabia," the letter explains further.

Data gathered from various sources by the Migrante Jeddah show there are some 405 'stranded' Pinoys who signified their intent to undergo the 'legal-deportation' process just so they can all go home. The group, housed at Al Mina Center by the Philippine Consulate under the auspices of OWWA Jeddah, includes some 30 children and 19 pregnant women.

This does not include a group of 11 ‘stranded’ Pinoys from Riyadh (six of whom are children) who were recently apprehended by local Immigration authorities. The group was left under Khandara Bridge by a ‘fixer’ who promised to repatriate them. A certain Nasser, who introduced himself as a Case Officer from the Philippine Consulate is reportedly charging SAR 1,300 each for air-ticket.

"Charging the ‘stranded’ Pinoys for airfare, including children, the overstaying Umrah, even those apprehended under the circumstances is a state exaction tantamount to government's abandonment of its responsibility to repatriate those who are most vulnerable," Medina asserts further.

Scrap OWWA Omnibus Policies!

Migrante Jeddah Spokesperson A. M. Ociones meanwhile traced the situation to the OWWA Omnibus Policies implemented in 2004.

"Sadly, this situation can only be traced to its mother, OWWA Omnibus Policies which utterly cut all types of services to OFWs," Ociones explains. "The mindset is that anyone who has not renewed their membership or has abandoned their contract by being abscondees, regardless of the abusive circumstances, do not have any right to any of OWWA programs and services."

"If OWWA would not provide the services to the OFWs, where else would its fund go?" Ociones asserts. "We sincerely hope not to somebody else's pocket." ###

Group sees planned failure of elections

Group sees planned failure of elections
in HK, Singapore automated polls

22 February 2010
PRESS RELEASE

Leaders of the largest global alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ groups today trooped to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) office in Intramuros Manila to raise the alarm bells on an impending failure of the slated automated overseas absentee voting of Filipinos in Hong Kong and Singapore.

“The COMELEC’s nonchalance scares us,” stated Migrante International Chairperson Garry Martinez in a press conference outside the COMELEC main office. “Filipinos in Hong Kong and Singapore will start voting in seven weeks, but the COMELEC hasn’t come up with the guidelines on the automated balloting. All it has issued so far are scant information through press releases and media interviews.”

Martinez said the automated OAV guidelines is necessary as the process is completely different from the automated voting and counting here in the country. He said, unlike in the Philippines, Filipinos in Hong Kong and Singapore will be voting for a month (April 10 until May 10, 2010) and each Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine will be configured to accommodate 5,000 voters each.

“What will be the COMELEC’s contingency plan in case the machines breakdown in the one month balloting? The COMELEC says transmission of results will only happen at the close of the polls on May 10. Do they have safeguards in place to protect all the votes stored in the machine for an entire month?” asked Martinez.

The Migrante leader also complained of the COMELEC’s deployment of PCOS machines in the two countries. The COMELEC has earlier announced that they will be fielding 30 PCOS machines, four of them spares. But Martinez slammed the poll body’s deployment plan.

“The machines will be open for 10 hours every day for an entire month. Even in the Philippines, we believe the COMELEC and its partner Smartmatic haven’t subjected the PCOS machine to this kind of long and grueling scenario. In short, there’s the real danger that the PCOS machine may not be able to stand and last until the entire process ends. This is aside from the fact that the machines that they’ll be fielding will not be enough given the high risk of breakdowns and other technical glitches in the month long voting,” said Martinez.

With the real risk of machine breakdowns and other problems, Martinez said his group is ‘worried to high heavens’ because the COMELEC has yet to conduct voters’ education among the Filipino community and, most especially, the embassy/consulate personnel who will be tapped to serve as Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEIs).

In addition, Martinez complained of the non-conduct of mock elections and field tests in HK and Singapore. He said, this crucial part of preparations is needed in order for the COMELEC to determine the potential technical and operational problems in advance and make the necessary corrections in time for the balloting as he recalls the recently concluded mock elections in Quezon City and Taguig, which according to him “was as disaster.”

“Given the risks, we are worried to high heavens because in seven weeks, clueless voters in HK and Singapore will have to entrust their precious votes to clueless personnel mandated by law to man the voting and counting machines. God help us all,” he said.

“All indications lead us to believe that the automation of elections for Filipinos in HK and Singapore is designed to fail. There will be failure of elections and the Arroyo regime – thru the COMELEC – is currently laying the groundwork for this to occur,” maintained Martinez.

Failure of elections, he said, will result to the disenfranchisement of 95,355 Filipinos in Hong Kong and 31,851 voters in Singapore. The combined number, according to him, is equivalent to 20% of the total number of registered overseas absentee voters worldwide which now stands at 589,830.###

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Reference:
Garry Martinez, Chairperson, 09393914418
Ailyn Abdula, Media Officer, 09158588318

Publish OWWA Funds Statement

OFW leader, migrant group ask OWWA to publish OWWA funds Statement of Account

Press Release
21 February 2010

A leader of the most active Filipino migrant workers alliance in the Middle East and its members today send a letter to Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator Carmelita Dimzon asking the latter to provide them a recent Statement of Account of the OWWA funds held in trust to the government.

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona on its letter dated February 21, 2010 sent to OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon invoked that as member of the OWWA, in which he just renewed his membership last February 9, 2010 with Official Receipt No. 5336980, and due to the demands of Migrante members who are also OWWA members requested the OWWA administrator to furnish them a recent copy of the OWWA funds Statement of Accounts.

“What decided us to send a formal letter of request to OWWA Administrator Dimzon to provide us a recent copy of OWWA Funds Statement of Account is out of apprehension that again these funds, a compulsory collection of US$25 per departing OFW, would be misused and diverted for partisan and electoral agenda by the present administration to favor its candidates for the May 2010 elections,” Monterona averred.

On the said letter, Monterona cited the previous ‘anomalies’ and misuses of the OWWA funds such as the P260M bogus claims exposed by then OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo himself just to justify OWWA Medicare fund transfer to Philhealth under the present Arroyo Administration, the un-audited US$293,500 for the Middle East Preparedness Team headed by General Roy Cimatu during the US war of aggression to Iraq where repatriation of OFWs never took placed anyway under the present Arroyo administration, the alleged illegal granting of P40 million incentives and allowances to its officials and employees for the past three years (2005 to 2007), the POEA giving permission to its Executives and employees who were issued mobile phones to download about P796,000.00 worth of games, tones and picture messages and other unauthorized items, among others.

“Invoking our rights to know the status of the OWWA funds and in the name of transparency and accountability guaranteed by the basic laws of the land, we demand your good office to provide us the most recent statement of Account of the OWWA funds,” Monterona said on his letter.

Migrante-Middle East also demanded from OWWA Administrator Dimzon to send a copy of the OWWA funds Statement of Account to all RP posts including those in the Middle East and to be posted at their respective offices for the information and knowledge of OWWA-member OFWs before and after the May 2010 elections.

“By doing so, OFWs who are member of OWWA would be assured that their contributions are spared from any partisan and electoral schemes by the ruling administration to advance its own political agenda,” Monterona said. (End) # # #

Reference:
John Leonard Monterona
Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator
Mobile No.: 00966 564 97 8012

From distress to rage:

Serving migrants and the motherland

By: Migrante International

“They come like an endless stream of water.”

This is how Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairperson, describes the sheer number of migrant workers and their families who troop to the office daily, seeking help. He is proud of the fact that they have never turned anyone away, despite limited resources.

The Migrants’ Assistance Center (MAC) of Migrante, the largest and most militant alliance of OFWs worldwide, handles more than one thousand cases concerning the rights and welfare of migrants each year. These range from cases of illegal recruitment and labor contract violations, to cases of human rights violations involving stranded and detained OFWs, mysterious deaths of OFWs, and rape and sex trafficking of Filipino women.

When Martinez was a new member of the MAC, he knew that there were cases of migrants’ rights violations as he was an “undocumented” OFW himself but he still was unprepared for the gravity of the cases Migrante was handling. It was through these cases that his commitment to work for migrants’ concerns deepened.

‘We may not be earning dollars…’

Like many first-time OFWs, Martinez was also an unknowing victim of illegal recruitment. Hailing from a family of landless farmers in the province of Rizal, he went abroad in 1988 with nary an idea of his rights. Thus, he arrived as an undocumented worker in South Korea and was sold by his recruiter. Martinez was forced to work for 14 hours a day for a textile factory in a cramped and poorly lit basement, with unpaid salaries for up to six months. It was only two years after that he was able to escape his employer, and since then held various jobs as janitor, window cleaner, and garments and furniture factory worker.

It was in 1992 that Martinez first found himself thrust into the limelight as a migrant rights advocate. A fellow garment worker, Lorena Baxa, accidentally burnt herself when the heater exploded. Martinez was among those who rushed her to the hospital, but she was refused admission. The issue inflamed the Filipino community, and Martinez acted as their spokesperson. Since then, “my house was practically turned into an embassy, with 10 to 20 OFWs arriving each day to seek help,” he said. Also president of the Filipino Catholic Community, OFWs would also approach him after mass to tell of their problems.

In 2004, when OFW Angelo dela Cruz was taken hostage in Iraq, Martinez decided to dedicate himself to full-time work at Migrante International back home. In 2008, he was elected as its chairperson. “It is challenging, because I only finished high school, so I initially felt as if I was not equipped with the skills for such a position. But then I realized that my biggest advantage was that I was a migrant worker for such a long time. And nobody can understand an OFW in distress better than one who knew how it was like to be one,” he said.

Gina Esguerra, current Migrante secretary-general and MAC coordinator, also used to be a domestic helper in Hong Kong. In 2003, she returned to the country, after several years of being an organizer for Association of Concerned Filipinos in Hong Kong (ACFIL-HK), one of Migrante’s 136 chapters abroad. Having been treated well by her employer, she doesn’t own a sob story but she has seen how many Filipina domestic workers were being treated unjustly and cruelly and heard their stories through her work in ACFIL “It is difficult to work abroad and become someone else’s slave,” she said.

And so she exchanged the typical OFW’s dream of saving up enough money to build a house for her family, with the more egalitarian dream of building a better society wherein Filipinos wouldn’t have to be torn apart from their families just to have a decent life. “Though we can hardly pay our bills from the little allowance we get from our volunteer work in Migrante, the work is very rewarding,” she mused. “While we may not be earning dollars for our families, at least we are serving OFWs and our country.”

Handling numerous cases

Last year, the MAC handled a total of 1,293 cases. Of these, 413 were brought in by OFWs or relatives of OFWs who heard about Migrante from the radio or byword of mouth from other OFWs who have been helped the organization. The rest were referred by their chapters abroad, mostly from the Middle East.

Esguerra explains that the alliance serves by assisting OFWs in distress or their relatives in asserting their rights and demanding attention from government agencies- including embassies abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Authority (OWWA) which normally and deliberately ignore their pleas for help. The concerned Migrante chapter abroad calls the attention or engages with the Philippine embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East coordinator, tells of a case in 2008 where an OFW (name withheld) was allegedly raped by her male employer, ran away, and then sought refuge in the Philippine embassy in Riyadh. However, her plea for assistance in filing an appropriate case against her employer was not heeded by the embassy. With permission from the victim and her family, the group issued a statement about her case and exposed the neglect committed by government officials. “The following day, the statement landed in national dailies in the Philippines, as well as in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East,” he said. “It was only then that the embassy paid attention to the case.”

Instances wherein Migrante, instead of the government, takes the lead in assisting OFWs and publicizing their cases are becoming more frequent. Migrante-Middle East alone handles three to five cases daily, mostly of those who ran away from their employers because of abusive conditions. “They or their relative will call me up even in the wee hours of the morning,” Monterona said. Recently, it was the group who provided food and other basic supplies, even toothpaste, to the 43 caregivers of the Annasban Company in Riyadh who in January conducted a strike to protest various labor contract violations—while pressing the POLO and OWWA to work for their immediate repatriation.

Meanwhile, back home, Migrante urges OFWs to file appropriate charges against their recruitment agencies. Last year, the group assisted in the filing of 109 cases with the POEA and 259 cases with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). Migrante’s MAC staffers personally accompany the victims in hearings and refer them to lawyers. Sometimes, the victims win their case; sometimes they lose.

But it is most painful, said Esguerra, when a victim decides to settle a strong legal case for a paltry amount that government arbiters usually offer. Such was the case of Mylene Mandas, a domestic helper in Kuwait, who arrived at the office in May 2004 with ears bloated like cauliflower and arms burnt from the use of household chemicals. “Her employer regularly beat her and cut her hair every time she was allowed to eat. Her hair used to be long, but when we saw her it was cropped like that of a boy’s,” Esguerra recalled. “I accompanied her to government agencies. But in the end, she settled her case for a measly P4,000 because she could not afford the cost it took to go through with the long and tedious process of seeking justice in this country. Eventually, she applied again for work abroad.”

She, however, doesn’t blame those like Mandas, who are after all, only victims of the vicious cycle of forced migration fostered by the lack of real livelihood opportunities in the country. The government’s aggressive labor export program is no solution, at all, to its deepening bankruptcy and the economic crisis. This is the reason why Migrante does not stop with merely assisting OFWs in distress, but tries to address the root of the myriad problems of migration.

Confrontations and consciousness-raising

It has a comprehensive education program that informs departing workers of their rights. Migrante finds the government’s Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar wanting. “Many workers leave the country unaware that their rights have already been violated in the recruitment process, and are even less oriented on what they can do or where they can go to when they encounter trouble,” said Esguerra.

The group also holds regular discussions with OFWs on the situation of Filipino migrant workers, and critiques the government’s labor export program. This critique—that the program is geared towards milking migrants’ hard-income income through various exactions, and that the government is unable to protect migrants’ rights because of their sheer number and its concern over maintaining good relations with countries opening up their labor markets—was borne out of the experiences of OFWs that it had served.

“In reality, to thousands of OFWs, working abroad is not a personal decision but one forced upon Filipinos,” said Martinez. “Many OFWs realize that they are victims of an unjust system. This realization stirs their soul. They become more politically conscious, and start to question many things that they used to merely accept.”

Being advocates necessarily leads to dealing with, and often becoming confrontational with, government officials that show ineptness or neglect. Martinez, for instance, figured in prominent word wars with DFA and DOLE officials when these officials refuse to provide assistance, or are caught lying through their teeth or dilly dally even when there is an urgent situation such as rescuing an OFW in distress.

The three Migrante leaders all said that sympathy for OFWs goes hand-in-hand with anger, even rage, at the entire system that wrenches Filipinos away from their homes and into lives characterized by “dirty, demeaning, and dangerous” jobs abroad. “Keeping quiet means turning your back on your fellow Filipinos,” said Martinez. Monterona, meanwhile, said that he continues to spend all his free time away from his job in Saudi Arabia for assisting migrants.

Thus, the organization combines its services with the parliament of the streets. “Those who come to us learn that, under the current administration, they need to bang at the gates and shout their just demands, they need to get the help of the media in order for the government to pay even just a little attention to their cases,” Martinez further explained. “OFWs learn to assert and assert their rights. Many of those we have worked with say joining these actions have empowered them and given them back their dignity. In fact, on March 17, on the death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, Migrante shall march once again to Mendiola together with a growing number of victims and their relatives who cannot wait to end President Arroyo’s term to end. ”

For Esguerra, fulfillment comes after a victory over a certain case, or when a victim becomes an advocate or a volunteer as well. “We maintain good relations with those whom we have helped. Sometimes, they would drop by our office with pasalubong. Then there are the victims who decide to work for Migrante as well, or become activists elsewhere in the wider movement for social change of which we are part,” she shared.

With the rising number of Filipinos leaving daily for work in foreign shores, it seems that distressed OFWs will continue to stream like water in and out of Migrante’s offices here and abroad. Their resources are a pittance compared to that of the government’s, and yet they have something far greater, and that is genuine concern and love for migrants and the motherland.
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Ang sigaw ng OFWs:

Ang sigaw ng OFWs:
Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza sa Senado!
Gabriela Womens Party sa Konggreso!

Pahayag ng Pagsuporta ng Migrante Jeddah
19 Pebrero 2010

Napapanahon ang pagpapatakbo sa Senado ng mga progresibong kandidato nating sina Satur Ocampo at Liza Maza sa panahon ng matinding krisis na pang-ekonomiya at pampulitika na puminsala sa marami nating kababayan, hindi lang sa Pilipinas, kundi tayong mga migrante na nasa ibang bansa. Dito sa Saudi Arabia, ang malawakang pagliit ng kita dahil sa pambubusabos sa pasahod kakambal ng tumitinding implasyon ay may kaakibat na epekto sa ating mga mahal sa buhay na naiwan sa Pilipinas. Idagdag pa rito ang lumalawak at tumitinding mga kaso ng pang-aabuso at pagtratong alipin sa mga kababayan nating migrante. Nitong buling dalawang buwan lang, nakita natin ang aabot na sa 600 kababayan nating tumakas mula sa iba't-ibang porma ng pang-aabuso na lumantad at naghangad na makauwi. Ito ang mga obhetibong kalagayan na inuusbungan ng ating paglahok sa kampanyang elektoral.

Gayundin naman, ang pagtakbo ng ating mga progresibong kandidatong sina Satur Ocampo at Liza Maza ay indikasyon ng malawak at malalim na inabot ng pakikibaka ng sambayanan para sa kanilang mga demokratikong karapatan, at para sa pambansang kalayaan at demokrasya.

Si Satur Ocampo ay isa sa mga pinaka-maaasahan nating progresibong lider na walang humpay sa lumaban sa diktadurang Marcos, naging matatag na sumandig sa kapakanan ng sambayanan kahit sa panahon ng detensyon at pagkakakulong at naging matibay na beacon sa harap ng panananalakay sa mga demokratikong interes at karapatan ng mamamayan sa ilalim ng iba't-ibang nagharing rehimen.

Si Liza Maza ay matibay na sandigan ng mga kababaihan at ng sambayanan bilang lider ng Gabriela sa matagal na panahon. Bilang Kongresista, laging kaagapay si Liza ng mga migrante sa pagsusulong ng mga partikular na panawagan para sa kapakanan ng mga tinaguriang Bagong Bayani.

Ang totoo, kung kasama pa natin si Ka Bel ngayon, sigurado ako, itataguyod din natin sya sa Senado.

Dahil sila, si Satur Ocampo at Liza Maza ~ ang mga lider ng sambayanan na hindi natin matatawaran sa paninindigan at paglilingkod para sa interes ng sambayanang Pilipino.

Kahit hindi pinayagan ng COMELEC ang paglahok ng ating Partylist sa eleksyong ito, tayo bilang mga OFWs ay may napakalaking fayda kung pagwawagi ng ating dalawang kandidato. Sa pagkakaroon ng dalawang natatanging progresibong lider sa Senado, ang ating mga hinaing at mga panawagan ay higit na may lakas

Kung gayon, idinedeklara ng Migrante Jeddah sampu ng kanyang mga kasapi at kapatid nitong organisasyon dito sa Kanlurang Rehiyon ng Saudi Arabia ang ating pagsuporta sa pagtakbo nina Satur Ocampo at Liza Maza.

Ang sigaw ng OFWs:
Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza sa Senado!
Gabriela Womens Party sa Konggreso!

Pag-Endorso ng Migrante-KSA

SA MGA KANDIDATO NG KOALISYONG MAKABAYAN
SATUR and LIZA sa SENADO at GABRIELA WOMENS PARTYLIST sa KONGRESO

12 Pebrero 2010

Pagpugay sa Masa at Sambayanan!

Ito na ang tamang panahon para manindigan ang bawat mamamayang biktima ng pulitikang luom sa dayaan, manipulasyon at kabulukan. Hinog na ang pagkakataon para ating isa-tinig ang marubdob na pagnasang hanguin ang bayang sadlak sa kabiguan at hindi malirip na kurapsiyon. Ito na ang oras para iluklok sa pwesto ang mga indibidwal na tunay na naninindigan para sa kapakanan ng masang-api. Panahon na natin ito!

Sa ngalan ng mga kaalyado, pamilya, miyembro, opisyal at buong pamunuan ng Migrante-KSA, buong pwersa naming iniindorso ang kandidatura ni Ka Satur Ocampo at Ka Liza Maza para senador; gayundin buong puso kaming sumusuporta sa lahat na Partylist Groups sa ilalim ng Koalisyong Makabayan; mainit rin ang aming pagtugon sa panawagang iboto ang lahat na mga militante at progresibong kandidato na lalahok sa nakatakdang halalan sa Mayo ng kasalukuyang taon.

Si Ka Satur at Ka Liza Maza ay mga “institusyong” masigasig na nagtaguyod at patuloy na sumusulong sa mga batas, programa at proyektong naka-sentro sa kagalingan ng bawat Pilipino. Nanguna rin sila sa mga makabayang protesta at pagkilos na ang mithi’y mapalaya ang bayan sa dikta at interbensyon ng mga dayuhang bansa sa panloob at panlabas na pagde-desisyon ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas.

Kasabay ng hakbang na ito, amin ring hinihimok ang buong sambayanan na itakwil at ibasura ang mga kandidatong nagpapaka-tuta at nakikipagsabwatan sa rehimeng US-Arroyo. Huwag nating iboto ang mga sagad-sagaring indibidwal na nagpapakasasa sa kaban ng bayan; mga abusado at ganid na kandidatong pumatay sa esensya ng Demokrasya, Hustisya at Kalayaan; at mga kasapakat ng rehimeng ito na walang humpay nagyurak sa Saligang-Batas ng Pilipinas. Hadlangan natin ang maitim na motibo at kasulasulasok na mga balakin ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at mga kapamilya nito na muling maghari at salaulain ang ating lahi.

Bagama’t hindi ito ang sapat na paraan para mabago ang landas na tinatahak ng ating bayan, maipapakita pa rin natin ang ating paghihimagsik at maipapadama ang ating pag-alsa sa pamamagitan ng balota. Huwag nating bibigyan ng pagkakataon ang administrasyong ito na muling manipulahin at dayain ang resulta ng halalan. Kinabukasan ng bayan at ng mga susunod na henerasyon ang nakataya dito. Sagrado ang ating boto, bantayan natin ito!

Umaasa kami na kayo, bilang bahagi ng malawak na bilang ng Sambayanan ay makikiisa sa krusadang ito. Laban natin ito!

MIGRANTE KSA SUPPORTS KOALISYONG MAKABAYAN sa 2010!
SATUR OCAMPO & LIZA MAZA sa SENADO!
GABRIELA WOMEN’S PARTY sa KONGRESO
OFW’s at PAMILYA TULOY ANG LABAN PARA ISULONG ANG PAMBANSANG KALAYAAN AT TUNAY NA DEMOKRASYA!


Para sa bayan,


(Sgd.) John T. Torres
Tagapagsalita, Migrante -KSA
Email: john_torresrt@yahoo.com.ph
Mobile: +966-056-0631439

(SGD.) Rodel Macalintal
Media & Campaign Officer
Email: rodelom@yahoo.com
Mobile No.: +966-055-1977512

Migrante Saudi Arabia
Migrante Partylist - KSA Chapter
Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan - Riyadh
Migrante Al Khobar
Migrante Jeddah
Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan - Dawadmi
Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan - Al Jouf
Samahang Manggagawa sa Saudi Arabia (MASA)
Migrante Eastern Province
Jeddah Filipino Society
Makabayan Saudi Arabia
Muslim-Christian OFW’s preparatory committee for Justice & Peace in KSA
Filipino – Community Allied Organizations in KSA