A migrant workers’ group criticized the Aquino administration’s labo- export policy in a state of “Catch-22” or a big dilemma as gleaned in its easing of hiring rules for overseas workers set forth by the Migrant Workers Act. 

“This only implies that the government remains a failure when it comes to creating local jobs with decent pay and benefits. The government’s labor-export program is not reliable. In fact, it is  a shrinking job generation measure; it is a mere Band-Aid solution to our country’s economic woes,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.

 Monterona said the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) move of seriously considering easing the rules on the hiring of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) abroad “will only lead to worst when it comes to human trafficking and illegal recruitment, and rights violation cases involving thousands of Filipino migrants and would-be OFWs.”

Recent reports cited Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz confirming that Congress has recommended to allow the continued deployment of household service workers (HSWs) and other skilled workers even to countries that are considered “unsafe.”

 The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) last year declared 41 countries noncompliant on the “protection” provision of the amended Migrant Workers Act of 2010, or RA 10022, which should be preceded by a bilateral agreement guaranteeing OFWs protection between the Philippines and the migrant-host country, among others.

“Easing the rules on the hiring of OFWs would certainly make human trafficking, illegal recruitment and OFWs rights violations at its worst. It’s like pushing our OFWs and would-be OFWs into the hands of unscrupulous recruiters and heartless human traffickers,” he said.

Citing Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) records, Monterona said illegal recruitment cases from 2004 to 2010 steadily increased from 1,462 to 1,648, not to mention the 17.2 percent low disposition rate of the 2010 cases.

 He, however, noted that these were only the cases officially recorded by the POEA upon formal lodging of complaints by the OFWs as victims.

He said his group monitored illegal recruitment and human trafficking cases last year to have victimized around 10,000 OFWs and aspiring OFWs.

“It is fair to say, with no available official data from the POEA, human trafficking and illegal recruitment cases is seen to increase by 30 to 50 percent last year [2011] amid numerous reports from the Middle East to Asia Pacific, Europe and Americas,” Monterona said.

Source: http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/25618-migrante-government-labor-export-policy-in-a-state-of-catch-22