Migrant Filipinos Agenda For The Macapagal-Arroyo Administration

by MIGRANTE International

For the 8.1 million Filipino migrants, the struggle for justice is not yet
finished. Filipino migrants hold the view that everybody involved in the
corruption and plunder during President Estrada's term should be held
accountable and not go scot-free. Estrada and his cohorts should be
arrested, subsequently convicted and punished accordingly.

We reiterate the Migrant Filipinos' agenda to the newly-installed Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo administration. For our particular sectoral issues,
priority among the agenda of overseas compatriots and their families are
the following:

1. Decisive action and diplomatic intervention for the immediate release
and repatriation unjustly imprisoned Filipinos abroad, including the
estimated 1,000-plus Pinoys stranded in the Middle East.

Foremost are the unjust death-row cases of Sarah Dematera (Dammam, Saudi
Arabia), Joselito Alejo and Ramiro Esmero (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) and Mary
Jane Ramos (UAE). All of them continue to be imprisoned abroad. President
Macapagal-Arroyo must immediately work for their immediate release,
repatriation and compensation for the damages brought about by their unjust
imprisonment.

2. The immediate release of full compensation to all 46,182 Filipino Gulf
War victims.

The Gulf War compensation fund mess was unattended to by the corrupt
Estrada regime. The fund was transmitted to the Department of Foreign
Affairs by the United Nations. A decade after being victimized in the
Middle East, most of the Gulf War claimants have not received any amount of
compensation due to the DFA's programmed delays and corruption.

3. The scrapping or abrogation of the following laws, orders, resolutions
and fees (refer to table) that only increase the burden on, and intensify
the commodification of migrant Filipinos:

a. Migrants Act of 1995 (RA 8042)
b. OWWA Resolution 99-016 (annual US$25 "contribution" per OFW)
c. Executive Order 197
d. Memo Circular 41
e. Department Order 34
f. P1,000 BIR tax penalty on OFWs
g. DFA memo on cancellation of passports
h. Forced savings, broker's fees and unfair terms detrimental to migrant
workers in Taiwan
i. Double taxation on Filipino immigrants

TABLE ON EXORBITANT FEES AND FORCED "CONTRIBUTIONS" EXACTED ON EACH
FILIPINO MIGRANT

NBI Clearance P100
Passport Renewal P550-US$100
POEA processing fees from equivalent of US$300 upwards
Medicare P900
Seaman's Book P5,000
Artist Record Book P5,000
OWWA membership US$25
OWWA Resolution 99-016 US$25
Placement fees from P75,000 upwards

4. The investigation, arrest, prosecution and punishment of the following
abusive and corrupt political appointees in the DFA, embassies and
consulates:

- Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr., Undersecretary Benjamin Domingo and
Philippine Claims and Compensation Committee Chief Sinfronio Mendiola, (for
dipping their hands into the Gulf War compensation fund);
- OWWA Administrator Eleuterio Gardiner, Labor Attache Esperanza Belmonte
and Asst. Labor Attache to Hong Kong Victor Cabe (for the delayed release
of benefits and services and the passage of OWWA Resolution 99-016)
- POEA Administrator Regalado (for the high placement fees for OFWs)
- Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma (for the unabated export of Filipino
labor)
- Former TESDA Chief Edicio dela Torre (for the systematic export of
Filipino women and children)
- Nagoya Honorary Consul Yashihiro Taki and wife Linda (for charging forced
and exorbitant fees for consular services and harassing Filipinos in Japan);
- Jeddah Consul General Kadatuan Usop (for sexually abusing stranded OFWs);
- MECO Managing Director Rodolfo Reyes (for neglecting the harrowing plight
of OFWs in Taiwan)
- San Francisco Consul General Amado Cortez (for malversation of
government funds)

All should also be banned from the public service and diplomatic missions.

5. Work for the legalization, protection and immediate assistance to
undocumented Filipino migrant workers everywhere.

6. Impose heavy penalties and punish all agencies and individuals engaged
in the sex trafficking of Filipino women and children.

7. Abolish the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)
and the Job Fair Scheme.

8. Provide adequate and appropriate government services to all Filipino
migrant workers on site.

a. Open consular offices and embassies during days-off.
b. Open and operationalize OWWA Centers where there are large
concentrations of overseas Filipino workers.
c. Provide allocations in the National Budget for welfare services to
migrant Filipinos and their families.

9. Senate ratification and full implementation by the Philippine government
of the United Nations Convention for the Protection of Migrants, their
Families and their Rights and Welfare.

As the country with the biggest population abroad in the world, we deem it
importantly necessary for the new administration to assure its ratification
by the Senate and fullest implementation.

10. Address the general Filipino people's demands.

Overseas Filipinos and their families dream of a just and lasting peace in
the homeland. We fully support that the following general people's demands
be acted on by the new President:

a. Arrest and subject to criminal proceedings Estrada, the Marcoses and the
big cronies and make them yield their ill-gotten wealth.

b. Implement genuine agrarian reform and nationalization of industries. The
new government can start by taking the following steps:

1. Reverse the anti-national and anti-people government policy of
liberalization, privatization and deregulation.
2. Discard the anti-peasant policy of misrepresenting land reform as
voluntary sale of land or corporate shares by the landlords.

c. Give justice and indemnification to all the victims of human rights
violations since the time of Marcos and to the war victims in Mindanao.

d. Immediately release all political prisoners as a sign of goodwill.

e Revive all the bilateral agreements of the Government of the Republic of
the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
(NDFP).

f. Resume the peace negotiations with NDFP wherein basic social, economic
and political reforms can be discussed and agreed upon.

g. Cease the military campaigns of suppression against the people in the
countryside.

These agenda if given recognition and decisive action, would place the
President on the side of our people.

If the new administration will not strive to address these demands, the
people and overseas Filipinos will see to it that a government no different
from the out-and-out anti-migrant and anti-people Estrada regime is
ousted. #

MIGRANTE International
56-C Masikap Street Bgy. Pinyahan, Teachers' Village
Quezon City, PHILIPPINES

Phone: (63-2) 435-9152, TeleFax: 435-6929
E-mail address: <migranteintl@pacific.net.ph>
OR migranteintl@edsamail.com.ph