a-teamtaiwan: September 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

US orders pullout of 5,000 Pinoys in Afghanistan

The US government has ordered another pullout of foreign workers, including Filipinos, whose countries have implemented a deployment ban in the war-torn country.

In a copy of the September 17 memorandum obtained by GMANews.TV, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) ordered its contractors to remove third country nationals (TCN) from US military and other facilities in Afghanistan whose domestic laws prohibit their citizens from working there.

In an interview, an official of the Philippine Embassy in Pakistan, which has jurisdiction over Afghanistan, confirmed that Filipinos will be among the foreign workers who will have to be repatriated.

The official, who refused to be named, added about 5,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be affected by the memorandum.

The Embassy official, however, refused to further comment on the matter, saying the departments of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Labor and Employment will have the final say.

“We will just implement whatever they tell us to do," the official said.

DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya could not be reached as of posting time.

Repatriation of OFWs

The repatriation of TCNs, including Filipinos, may be made upon the termination of the workers’ contracts, or upon dismissal.

“Contractors in violation of third country laws should immediately make plans to repatriate these individuals," the memorandum stated as signed by Brig. Gen. Camille Nichols, commanding general of the US CENTCOM.

Letter to Aquino

Filipinos in Afghanistan, however, have written President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino, asking that the ban be lifted and that they be allowed to stay in that country.

In their letter, Catherine Sobrevega, representative of the Filipino workers in Afghanistan, said the order will affect some 5,000 OFWs, including those from international non-governmental organizations, aid agencies, and multinational corporations.

In the petition, Sobrevega cited other reasons to lift the ban:
# Filipinos have to endure not seeing their families for longer periods of time because the ban prevents them from returning to the Philippines on vacation;

# The ban affects the image of the Filipino workers in Afghanistan;

# The ban gives airport authorities opportunities to extort money from workers returning to Afghanistan because carrying Afghanistan entry permits makes them easy prey for immigration personnel;

# The current ban is unfair to Filipino workers there, citing that in other countries like Somalia, no ban has been imposed even though Filipino seamen are being held hostage by Somali pirates;

# Employers have adopted strict security measures for foreign workers’ housing and transportation.

Government records

Government records show that there are about 1,800 Filipinos living in Afghanistan as of 2008.

Based on Philippine Overseas Employment Administration records, only four Filipino workers were deployed in the country in 2009. The nature of these Filipinos’ work is unclear.

Pullout in Iraq

The US CENTCOM has earlier similarly ordered the pullout in Iraq of foreign workers coming from countries that have banned travel to and deployment of workers in the country.

The DFA, however, has allowed Filipino workers deployed in US military facilities to remain in Iraq until they finish their contracts, but said that the total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers there remains in light of the volatile situation. – GMANews.TV

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

DOLE gears up for expanded OFW protection; issues rules implementing R. A. 10022
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), together with the Department of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies with overseas Filipino workers-related mandates, yesterday issued the rules and regulations covering the implementation of Republic Act No. 10022, shifting up to a higher gear the government of President Benigno S. Aquino III toward the protection of the welfare and interest of eight million overseas Filipino workers.
R. A. 10022 is officially tited the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, As Amended, Further Improving the Standard of Protection and Promotion of the Welfare of Migrant Workers, Their Families and Overseas Filipinos in Distress, and For Other Purposes.

The implementing rules and regulations, published yesterday in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Manila Times will take effect 15 days after.
“The implementation of R. A. 10022 is a challenge that puts the DOLE at an even bigger forefront of OFW social protection,” said Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, who had brushed aside comments that OFWs had been “forgotten” when President Aquino did not mention them in his State of the Nation Address last Monday.

“This is the government’s answer to those comments,” she said, noting that with R.A. 10022, the groundwork has been laid for the expanded protection of the country’s “modern-day heroes” in pursuit of the President’s 22-point agenda for labor and employment.

Baldoz emphasized that 11 of the 22 items in the agenda are OFW-related and that the 11 agenda items are for the protection of OFWs and for enhancing their competitiveness.
The rules and regulations spell out in details the salient protective measures of the new law, among which are:

   1. Emphasis on stronger bilateral and multilateral relations with receiving countries for protection. Interpreting provision of free skills and livelihood programs as expanding free access to such programs;
   2. Criteria for host countries (guaranteeing protection), subject to concurrence to “take positive and concrete measures” to protect the rights of migrant workers; and clarifying a three-step process that involves a) DFA certifications on compliance by host countries; b) POEA resolution allowing deployment to complying host countries; and c) POEA processing of workers’ documents to countries identified in POEA resolutions.
   3. Inclusion of amendments to prohibited acts that may constitute illegal recruitment by licensed and unlicensed agencies, as well as other prohibited acts, such as loans, decking practice in OFW medical examinations; and recruitment by suspended agencies;
   4. Anti-illegal recruitment programs that include institutionalizing the role of LGUs; added capability of POEA lawyers; prosecution; and operation and surveillance to apprehend illegal recruiters;
   5. Money claims. Inclusion of voluntary arbitration;
   6. Repatriation and mechanism for repatriation. Responsibility for repatriation with principal/employer and licensed recruitment agency; 48-hour notice rule and 15-day period for countries with exit visa requirements; provisions on repatriation of underage workers and asserting penalties and liabilities for recruiters who recruit underage migrant workers;
   7. Overseas Filipino Resource Centers will now have additional required personnel, such as psychologists, etc. and be under direct POLO supervision;
   8. Institutionalizing the National Reintegration Center for OFWs;
   9. Protection from abusive medical clinics;
10. Ensuring the use of the legal assistance fund for foreign lawyers and attorneys’ fees and for filing of cases against erring or abusive employers;
11. Compulsory insurance to cover agency-hired workers for accidental death, natural death, permanent total disablement, repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evaluation, and medical repatriation.

“With the publication of the implementing rules and regulations, I now direct the family of agencies under the DOLE that have OFW-related mandates to craft their own internal rules and regulations for the smooth operationalization and implementation of the provisions of the law,” Baldoz said.

source:DOLE