Migrant Workers in Macau Unanimous Against Affidavit of Support

Cynthia Abdon Tellez
Director, Mission For Migrant Workers

In a dialogue with Consul General Ledda last September 22, more than 50 migrant workers from different organizations and churches in Macau unanimously stated that they are against the affidavit of support required by Philippine government officials. All that the Con Gen could promise though was to raise this with other government bodies and have another dialogue with the Filipino community after his return to Macau on September 30.

Migrante - Macau Coordinator Catalina Yamat asked the Con Gen why the affidavit of support had always been revived in 2003, 2006 and 2009 one year before the elections of each respective year mentioned. A representative of the Filipino Migrant Ministry on the other hand asked if this affidavit is being required by Macau authorities or only by the Philippine government.   

The affidavit of support is a requirement by the Philippine Immigration Bureau for all Filipinos who would want to go to Macau direct from the Philippines. This includes family members, relatives and friends of Filipinos working in Macau and should be certified by the Philippine Consulate in Macau at a cost of MOP220 (P1320). This is only required in this Chinese territory and not in other places like Hong Kong and other countries and those who do not show this kind of certificate will be offloaded by Immigration officials.

It has been suspended twice because of the outcry it created from the Filipino community. This June, the affidavit of support had again been required and implemented even at the NAIA, while it was only implemented in Clark Airport in 2006.

A petition letter was initiated by Migrante Macau and the Filipino Migrant Ministry against its implementation this year. This netted signatories from 12 organizations which also requested for a dialogue with the Consul General.

They stated that the affidavit of support is an added financial burden to them, is a cause of corruption for Immigration officials, fails to address illegal recruitment to Macau, and violates the Constitutional rights of Filipino nationals to travel abroad.

It would do well for the Philippine government to heed the demands of the Filipino community in Macau to scrap the affidavit of support. Unless it wants the campaign against this to intensify and further earn the ire of the more than 15,000 Filipino nationals working there.