Repatriating workers is aim, says Philippine minister

Dubai - 10% of the Philippines annual gross domestic product is made by overseas Filipino workers

The Philippine labour and employment minister, Silvestre Bello III, expressed his 'reservations' on President Rodrigo Duterte's earlier proposal to create a new Department for Overseas Filipinos, saying it might contradict the government's long-term goal on labour and migration.
Speaking exclusively to Khaleej Times in Manila ahead of his scheduled visit to Dubai on August 17, Bello said: "The creation of a new department might send the wrong message that we are institutionalising labour export policy (sending nationals as migrant workers) when our final policy is to get them back and provide them with decent jobs."
"I am not personally against the proposal," Bello underlined. "The president referred the matter to me for study but we need to assess first how easy or how fast we can provide jobs here (in the Philippines)."
According to the Philippine Commission on Overseas Filipinos, there are 10.4 million Filipinos living and working abroad. The history of Philippine labour migration started in the 1970s when the administration of then president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. used it as a government stimulus to deal with high unemployment rate.
Today, the Philippines is a major source of migrant labour and over the years, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been hailed as "modern-day heroes" for helping the Philippine economy stay afloat, contributing close to 10 per cent of the country's annual gross domestic product (GDP).
The Middle East is one of the top destinations for the OFWs with Saudi Arabia coming on top of the list followed closely by the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar.
Bello said: "We all know that they (OFWs) go there because we cannot generate enough jobs at home. That's why we're seriously studying the proposal before we make any recommendations to the president for the creation of the new department.
"Our long-term programme is to get them back and provide them jobs with decent pay and good working condition," added the labour secretary, who will go first to Saudi Arabia before coming to Dubai to oversee the repatriation of around 9,000 stranded OFWs who laid off by nine different Saudi companies.
When asked if the Philippine government can provide adequate jobs, Bello, who is concurrently Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said: "Yes, we can generate enough jobs, especially with the president being persistent in peace negotiations with rebel groups because he understands that in order to attract foreign and local investments, there must be a climate of peace and order.
"If we achieve peace, then investors will come and our countrymen will have job opportunities and there's no more need for them to find work abroad," he added.
Meanwhile, Dubai-based professional photographer Mosh Lafuente, who is one of the more than 51,000 Filipinos in the UAE who voted for Duterte, said there are many issues faced by OFWs that should be addressed immediately.
Lafuente enumerated the abolition of acquiring overseas employment certificate (OEC) for vacationing workers; end to off-loading of passengers at the Philippine airports on suspicion of being illegal workers; upgrade of services at consular offices; and increase of financial and legal assistance to distressed OFWs, among others, as the immediate concerns that should be addressed by the current Philippine government.
Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante International, a Filipino group advocating migrant workers rights, echoed the same sentiments and added: "We welcome the creation of the new department for OFWs but we are also registering our serious apprehension on this matter."
"First, what will happen to overseas worker's funds which is now more that18 billion pesos (Dh1.44 billion)? Will this new department be a one-stop shop that will process the papers of OFWs or just another tool for labour export policy?"
Martinez added: "The new department, if ever the government will create one, should become a machinery that will help create more jobs for overseas Filipinos rather than expedite their deployment."
"Duterte won a landslide victory from overseas Filipinos so we are expecting major changes from his government detailed in the OFW Agenda we submitted to him such as the investigation of the misuse of OFW funds and recall of erring diplomatic officials and labour attachés," added Martinez.
angel@khaleejtimes.com