Archive for the ‘Migrant Worker’ Category

Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Amid the global financial crisis threatening to cause a drop in labor deployment and subsequently of the dollar remittances of overseas Filipino workers, the government should lift the deployment ban on war-torn Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Lebanon to spur more jobs abroad, a recruiter said Monday.
In a statement e-mailed to media outfits, Jackson [...]

Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Wednesday asked destination countries to recognize the professional skills and qualifications that migrant workers have acquired in their home countries.
In his speech opening the general debate of the Second Global Forum on Migration and Development, Roque said providing for mutual recognition arrangements in determining skills equivalences [...]

Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The United Nations Convention on The Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families has been in existence since 1990 and entered into effect in 2003. But so far, only 75 states have signed the Convention, most of them countries of origin of migrant workers, including the Philippines.
“But even if a country, especially [...]

Pia Lee-Brago
Philippine Star
Pirates have released 14 Filipinos from among the 79 crewmen of two Malaysian tankers hijacked near Somalia in exchange for a ransom.
Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Victoriano Lecaros confirmed the release of nine Filipino crewmembers and the remains of Jayson Dumagat, whose body was placed in the cold storage of M/V Bunga Melati 2, [...]

Pia Lee-Brago
Philippine Star
Hundreds of undocumented Filipinos working in Malaysia have expressed willingness to avail of the legalization program being offered by the Malaysian government.
The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur told the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that the embassy’s consular team has assisted hundreds of undocumented Filipino workers in availing of the amnesty program.
Other Filipinos [...]

Pia Lee Brago
Philippine Star
Vice President and Presidential Adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Noli de Castro yesterday urged relatives of undocumented Filipino workers in Kuwait to convince them to avail themselves of the 45-day amnesty offered to all illegal workers.
De Castro asked the help of the OFWs’ relatives, saying they can can explain the offer [...]

Rene Martel
The Manila Times
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines is up in arms (and with every reason) over the government’s plan to require every Filipino seeking overseas employment as a domestic helper to first pass a mandatory psychiatric test before they may qualify for recruitment.
“The proposal is downright ridiculous. The number of foreign-bound Filipino [...]

Ding Cervantes
Philippine Star
ANGELES CITY – Seven out of 10 Filipino workers (OFWs) charged with crimes abroad are forced to declare themselves insane to get clemency, according to a study by Migrante International (MI).
“This is because officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) compel them to use insanity for possible exoneration, and not because the [...]

Sheila Crisostomo
Philippine Star
An expert said yesterday there is no psychiatric procedure that can guarantee that a person will not break down if placed in a hostile environment away from loved ones.
Dr. Reynaldo Lesaka, a psychiatrist at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, said the proposal of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to require Filipino [...]

Pia Lee-Brago
Philippine Star
Malaysia has assured the processing of papers of undocumented Filipino workers who will comply with the requirements of regularization until end of October, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said in a press briefing that the Malaysian government has given undocumented Filipino workers [...]