Deployment ban for Filipino workers will not stop abuse

Migrant workers’ group slams ban

Published : Friday, November 04, 2011 00:00 Journal Online

THE Migrante International yesterday denounced the deployment ban for 41 countries, saying it is just a band-aid solution to the problem of abuses experienced by some overseas Filipino workers abroad.

Migrante Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona said the ban would never stop the abuse against Filipino migrant workers.

“It is quite an irony that the Philippines had issued a deployment ban for 41 countries, in addition to the 76 already in its list, while the countries being certified as ‘safety compliant’ as per Republic Act 10022 is concerned, are actually have high records of human and labor rights abuses,” he said.

Monterona pointed out that issuing a ban does not guarantee that OFWs are 100 per cent safe against abuses and maltreatment.

“The problem really is forced migration. Since joblessness is rampant in the country and the job opportunities are scarce, not to mention the grinding poverty in the Philippines, these workers are forced to accept job orders in countries included in the ban,” the militant leader said.

“The ban does not address the problem; the ban only increases the number of victims of human trafficking and those who are entering the countries, included in the ban, with fake documents. Or, those who have already been working in those countries, opt to stay although their documents have already expired,” he explained.

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