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Mr. Speaker, I rise to avail of the privilege hour to speak on the problems
confronting our distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) particularly
the stranded workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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In the last two weeks, concerned Filipinos from have abroad have sent me
frantic emails detailing the inhuman conditioons of our countrymen who are
now totally dependent on the goodwill and charity of fellow Filipinos and
some kind hearted Arabs. In all their messages, there is one common
observation - that our consulate is not doing enough to help and worse, that
our officials abroad are partly responsible for making the situation of our
OFW's worse than they already are.
Our 1.5 million compatriots who work as OFWs in Saudi Arabia remit
US$1.3 billion annually to the country. This is a big chunk of the average
annual total of US$15 billion remittances that our Filipino compatriots
working and residing abroad remit to the Philippine homeland.
But what does government do to the downtrodden, abused, maltreated and
mistreated OFW who runs away from his or her evil employers? These
OFWs who have lost their jobs have been reduced to begging under a
bridge or beside the wall of our consular office in Jeddah.
The national budget for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – the
country’s lead agency for foreign policy – is quite small. Let me correct
myself, it is not small but infinitesimal – lubhang napakaliit kumpara sa mga
kontribusyon at sakripisyo ng ating mga kababayang napilitang lumabas ng
bansa para maghanapbuhay.
The DFA originally requested a budget of P19 billion for its 2011 operations,
but I understand the DBM only approved P10.9 billion.
Section 18 of R.A. 10022 or the Amended Migrant Workers' Act provides for
an allotment of P100 million for the legal assistance fund (LAF), of which
P50 million shall be taken from the President’s contingency fund, P30
million from the President’s social fund, and P20 million from the Overseas
Workers Welfare Fund.
Pres. Aquino reduced the LAF for OFWs from P50 million ($1.14 million) to
only P27 million ($616 thousand) from his contingency fund. This is a gross
violation of the Migrant Workers Act, which mandates that the DFA must
allot at least P100 million ($2.28 million) for the repatriation, medical
assistance and other welfare services for OFWs in distress. The Assistance
to Nationals (ATN) fund of DFA, on the other hand, has been reduced to
P87 million ($1.986 million) from P100 million ($2.28 million).
Government says it has the best work migration model envied by other
labor-exporting countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Kung ito
na ang best model, talagang kawawa naman ang ating mga kababayan.
Mr. Speaker. There are hundreds, even thousands of sad stories of OFWs
from Saudi Arabia. Mayroong nga tayong Amended Migrant Workers Act,
ngunit binabali nga mismo ng Presidente ang mga probisyon ng batas
hinggil sa badyet para sa serbisyo sa mga OFWs.