24 September 2008

For reference: Dolores Balladares
Chairperson
Tel. No.: (852) 97472986

Psych test and age limit: package for OFW sale
HK group hits anew test and age requirement

“Fully-trained, 30 years old and mentally-capable of handling any abuses: These are the domestic helpers that the Philippine government will try to showcase and sell to the forthcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development.”

This was declared today by Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) as the proposal of a mandatory psychiatric testing for departing OFWs continues to hover over the heads of Filipino migrants. Additionally, the proposal to peg a minimum age for deployed domestic workers has also been resurrected.

“It is of no coincidence that these proposals are coming out right now. With DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos at the helm of the GFMD organizing, the government shall surely make OFWs as attractive as possible to labour-importing countries,” she remarked.

The psychiatric testing proposal was met by opposition from OFW groups across the globe. Due to the outrage, Vice President Noli de Castro then proposed to call it Stress Management Training that for UNIFIL was but another name for the same “twisted plan.”

Recently, the DFA also admitted that the proposal was meant to complement the January 2007 guidelines issued by the labor department to "enhance protection to departing Filipino household workers”.

“Since the implementation of the POEA guidelines, the promised protection never came into realization; instead, the number of abuses and termination of employment remained and may even have increased,” Balladares stressed.

The group also assailed the minimum age requirement that Balladares said is also no guarantee in safeguarding the rights of migrants. The age requirement was also included in the 2007 POEA Guidelines that met stiff resistance from OFWs.

Balladares argued that according to the data of the Mission for Migrant Workers for example, majority of Filipino domestic helpers’ age in Hong Kong range from 30 to 40 but this has not stopped the abuse and exploitation they’ve suffered from their employers.

“The truth in these proposals is that the government is just trying to cover up its inability in addressing the deplorable working conditions of OFWs,” she said.

She cited several urgent demands during the last Filipino migrants’ summit in HK that need to be addressed, such as the scrapping of authentication and OEC fee; lowering of passport fees and extending the validity of passport to at least 10 years; abolishing the documentary stamp tax and EVAT; monitoring OWWA funds and allocating pension fund for OFWs; providing proper and affordable health services to OFWs and families; among others.

Balladares pointed out that OFWs and migration have served as lucrative businesses for the government through remittances and fees it charge to migrants. For instance with the 0.15-percent documentary stamp tax for OFW remittance transaction, for every US$1-billion remittance, the government reaps US$1.5 million or about P62 million. Banks and other private businesses also rake in profits from remittance charges. For every US$200 remittance sent monthly, US$15 to US$22 is charged as service fee. For 10 million OFWs sending remittances, banks earn a staggering $1 billion monthly.

“Instead of treating the OFWs as milking cows and as prized stock for showcase as skilled, cheap and docile workers, the government should address the specific needs of OFWs if they are really sincere in their protection scheme,” she concluded.