The Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. (VFI) said it is ironic of the government to peddle Filipino maids in the Middle East and Asia, while neglecting their plight in the Philippines.

“How can you negotiate for maids abroad while here you don’t even mind them?” VFI director Cecilia Flores-Oebanda told GMANews.TV at the 2nd National Domestic Workers Summit in Quezon City.

Oebando said it’s time for members of Congress to wake up and act fast because they have been sleeping on the proposed Magna Carta for Domestic Workers.

The two day summit, which began on Thursday, aims to draft a recommendation from various labor sectors for the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) convention on domestic workers in 2010.

Should the Philippine government ratify the convention, it would be compelled to pass a law protecting domestic workers.

Oebanda said that the government ensures that Filipino household service workers overseas enjoy a minimum salary of $400 (roughly P20,000), while local maids could only ask for P800 per month under the existing Labor Code.

This is being enforced by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which requires foreign employers and placement agencies to ensure that domestic helpers hired in the country are given the minimum pay and ample protection.

She added that while Filipino household service workers could maintain their edge abroad by acquiring new skills under the government’s “supermaids” program, local maids hand down their jobs to their children.

“It creates an inescapable cycle. It’s as if they have no choice,” Oebanda said.

With a magna carta, Oebanda said domestic work would be reclassified and maids could demand for better working conditions, pay scale and skills training.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has already vouched her support in the passage of the bill and the adoption of the ILO convention.

“You should continue to push your campaign,” Arroyo said in a written message for the summit, “You have my full support.”

Such legislation would provide Cherry (not her real name), a 15-year-old maid from Bacolod city, a better future.

“Gusto kong maging lawyer. Pero ngayon kahit ano na lang basta maitaguyod ang buhay namin (I want to be a lawyer. But I’d take on any job for now just to keep our family afloat),” she said.

According to Cherry, her younger brother Jeje (13) and elder sister Faye (17) are also working for some families in their province, Negros Occidental. With their education shouldered by their employers, Jeje receives P10 a day while Cherry and Faye get P200 a week.

Lilibeth Masamloc, president of the Samahan at Ugnayan ng Manggagawang Pantahanan sa Pilipinas, said maids should not be chained to a lifetime of domestic servitude.

As a former maid herself, Masamloc urged legislators to act quickly on the bill.

“Hindi habang buhay kami ay kasambahay. May pangarap din kami sa buhay (We are not maids forever. We do have dreams too in life),” Masamloc said.

There are 550,000 Filipinos working in the country as domestic helpers, based on the 2006 Labor Force Survey. Of this number, some 350,000 are aged 15 – 24, while 120,000 (or 1 out of 5) are children domestic helpers.

The Philippines’ Overseas Labour Office in Kuala Lumpur has issued a warning against the e-mail, which included a notice purportedly from the Malaysian Immigration De partment about its visa processing requirements. The notice was sent to “prospective applicants” informing them of a pending appointment letter from a company, which had allegedly requested for the processing of their documents.

Philippines labour attache in Kuala Lumpur Hassan Gabra Jum dain said the e-mail stated that after securing all the necessary documents, applicants would be required to pay US$670 (RM2,088) as processing fee for a visa or work permit, to be sent to a “government” office address in the capital.

“The e-mail also indicates that the cost of prepaid flight tickets will be shouldered by the host employer,” said Jumdain.
Philippines Labour Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz urged those hoping to work in Malaysia to strictly observe precautionary measures.

“They should only deal with licensed recruitment agencies listed on the Philippine Overseas Em ployment Administration website or visit the office for advice.

“They should not be lured by sweet words from fixers and agents promising overseas jobs for a fee. Better still, they should immediately report illegal recruiters to government authorities,” she said. — ANN/Philippine Daily Inquirer

“It is difficult to implement as Malaysia does not have a minimun wage structure. We feel that wages should be based on market forces. “This has been our policy then and now,” he told reporters after opening a motivation and career training programme for Indian youths Saturday. Subramaniam however agreed that trained Indonesia housemaids should be paid higher wages based on the skills possessed.

Malaysia and Indonesia are still discussing the wage issue at joint committee level led by the Home Ministry secretary-general.

According to a report in Sin Chew Daily yesterday, a large number of highly qualified Filipino maids from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the poorest part of the Philippines, who in the past were sent to Hongkong and Middle-Eastern countries where they were well paid, are now willing to come to Malaysia and work for less due to the global slowdown.

Confirming this to the daily, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam said Filipinas have always been hired to work as domestic helpers in Malaysia.

And they are traditionally paid more than maids from other countries because of their language skills and because they are well trained to look after the elderly and the young.

He said in the past, the government had proposed to the Philippine government to bring maids from Mindanao but were unsuccessful because they asked for a minimum pay of RM1,400 a month whereas Malaysia was willing to offer only RM800.

“The Philippine government had asked for RM1,400 a month for their maids on the basis that they could communicate in English, were graduates and well trained.

“Now that these maids are willing to work for less and are willing to be sent to Malaysia, we believe the problem of a shortage of maids will soon be resolved,” he said.

An average of 1,000 maids run away from their employers every month. There have been reports that some agents worked in cahoots with maids, encouraging them to run away from employers after the replacement period of three months was over.
Mahmood said if employers could give legitimate reasons, they would not be penalised.
He was asked to comment on grouses from employers who not only have to part with between RM5,000 and RM7,000 for their maids but also pay a fine when their domestic helpers run away within weeks.
Admitting that the number of runaway maids was high, Mahmood said prospective employers should get their maids from agencies registered with the Immigration.

“In fact, the names of these agencies are on our website. If you take your maid from the registered agencies, it would be easier for us to monitor their track record and if they had an unusually high number of runaway maids,” he said.
Mahmood said if the employers took their maids from unregistered agencies, there was little it could do.
“In a meeting with the Association of Foreign Housemaids Agencies (Papa) a few days ago, this issue of employers being penalised for their runaway maids was also raised.
“But they told us that their members do not have such problems,” he said.
It is learnt that only a third of the 350 agencies registered to bring in foreign maids were under Papa.

On a separate matter, Mahmood said the Malaysian passports were of high quality and could not be tampered with.
Responding to claims by Thai authorities that fake Malaysian passports were the most seized at its Suvarnabhumi International Airport last year, Mahmood said:
“It is easy to detect a fake Malaysian passport as we have 35 security features on it. In fact, some of my officers met with our Thai counterparts to discuss this last week,” he said.
Mahmood said the Government planned to enhance the security measures which include introducing the radio-frequency identification technology which allowed the movement of the passport to be tracked.
“The passport is popular because Malaysians are multi-racial. If you look at me, I can be from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand or even India,” he said in jest.

He said most of the maids from Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines were non-Muslims as there was a demand for these maids from the Chinese community.
The Indonesian government stopped sending domestic maids to Malaysia following several incidents of abuse, besides a lack of employment perks such as a minimum wage and a weekly off-day.

Indonesia suggested that there be a minimum monthly wage of RM800 while Malaysia insisted that the amount be based on market demand, besides discussions between the employer and the maid concerned.
“On average, maids are now paid RM500 depending on the location of the workplace. But if the maid gives quality service, the employer can consider a higher pay,” said Alwi.
Asked to comment on a statement by the chairman of the Terengganu State Committee on Human Resources Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman that the state would introduce a three-month training scheme as domestic maids for almost 2,000 single mothers, Alwi said Papa welcomed the suggestion.
He said the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry should take the initiative to monitor the situation so that the women could be trained. — Bernama

“The growing number of victims of human trafficking and contract substitution throughout the world poses a major challenge to the next administration. Increasing poverty has driven many Filipinos to clutch at empty promises of bogus recruiters and human traffickers,” said Susan Ople, president of the OFW advocacy group Blas F. Ople Policy Center.

Ople noted that the overwhelming support bestowed by overseas Filipino voters on apparent president-elect Benigno Aquino Jr. came with high hopes that the labor and OFW sector would receive the priority it deserved.

“Even as we honor our modern-day heroes today, we all know that as their number rises the more difficult it is for government to reach them at a time of personal or collective crisis. The solution remains here at home, where job creation is imperative and the quality of jobs must improve,” she said.

More than 8.2 million Filipinos live outside the country, including at least 4.25 million OFWs. They sent home P138 billion in remittances in 2009, accounting for about 10 percent of the gross national product.

High expectations

Ople said that Aquino’s lead in the overseas absentee voting had raised high expectations among leaders of various Filipino communities worldwide.

Due to the continuing global financial crisis and harder economic times, many Filipinos are seen to be considering the option, if not the necessity, of finding work abroad.

“The increasing trend toward contractual work has become a major push factor for migration as more Filipinos consider migration as the first option for economic advancement,” Ople said.

Ople, the youngest daughter of the late Foreign Secretary and Labor Secretary Blas F. Ople, lost her first senatorial bid under the Nacionalista Party but vowed to continue her work as a labor advocate through the center.

Migrant Workers Act

Migrant Workers Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the signing of Republic Act No. 8042, or the Migrant Workers Act of 1995.

While the Department of Labor and Employment and its attached agencies, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), were busy leading a program to honor OFWs at Rizal Park in Manila, some OFW groups were engaged in battles abroad to protect their sector.

The Quezon City-based Center for Migrant Advocacy is leading an Asia-initiated campaign at the ongoing International Labor Conference in Geneva to convince the governments to work for an international agreement that would set standards for domestic helpers.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Migrante-Middle East issued a statement over the weekend calling on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to remind remittance firms that the OFWs need not pay documentary stamp tax when sending money home.

The Ople Center suggested several institutional and legislative reforms that the incoming administration should immediately embark on.

The center called for the granting of additional seats for OFW representatives on the OWWA board of trustees so that the agency could provide more benefits to its members.

One-stop assistance center

Ople said a one-stop interagency OFW assistance center should also be established in every province to cut red tape and facilitate the provision of services to OFW families, particularly in the areas of repatriation, reintegration and legal assistance.

She said the executive and legislative branches should also allocate budgets for the immediate deployment of legal and social welfare attachés to countries with a high incidence of human trafficking and other welfare cases, such as in destination points in the Middle East.

“Philippine embassies and consulates must be prepared to file cases against abusive foreign employers and agents, especially in cases involving contract substitution, rape and maltreatment of workers, rather than just repatriate the workers involved,” Ople said.

She said the Philippine government should be ready with its contingency plans for Filipino workers in countries facing crisis, such as South Korea, where there are over 80,000 OFWs.

“We need to keep an eye and be more vocal about the need to defuse this ticking bomb in our backyard,” she said, referring to escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula arising from the sinking of a South Korea naval boat by North Korea.

The number of overseas Filipinos is variously estimated at 8 million to 11 million, most of whom are OFWs.

Surveys on OFWs

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas estimates the number of Filipinos abroad as of December 2008 at around 8.2 million, of which 3.9 million were permanent residents, 3.6 million temporary (mostly workers) and about 650,000 irregular or undocumented.

The National Statistics Office’s survey of the 1.91 million OFWs who left the country in 2009 said most of the departing workers came from the Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon regions where job losses and factory closures were widespread at the height of the global financial crisis.

Of the OFWs who left in 2009, 52.1 percent were deployed to the Middle East, and 17.5 percent went to East Asian destinations such as Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

Another NSO survey broke down the 1.91 million in terms of occupations, namely laborers and unskilled workers (32.3 percent), trades and related workers (14.9 percent), service workers and shop and market sales workers (14.8 percent), plant and machine operators and assemblers (13.9 percent) and professionals (10.1 percent).

The survey said 42.8 percent of the OFWs who left in 2009 were aged 25 to 34 years.

“It would be better if employers are given options. It is not a problem allowing the maids to keep their passports but employers may have a hard time worrying about them. Employers should be granted the alternative of keeping the maids’ passports for safety purposes.”

Alwi said some employers might not want their maids to go out on their days off.

“Giving the maids a day off would be all right, but if the employers are uncomfortable with the maids going out, they should have the option of paying overtime or an allowance.”
He said allowing maids to leave their working premises would tempt more of them to abscond.

Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan felt that the new agreement between Malaysia and Indonesia would put employers at greater risk unless maids could be guaranteed to stay to the end of their contracts.

“We already have a good number of maids running away, under the current situation where there is no official day off and their passports are held by the employers.

“With the new regulations, the maids will be able to plot schemes to run away, since their passports are no longer held by the employers and they are free to go out once a week.”

He also said that Malaysians should not be over-dependent on their maids and suggested that more community child care centres be set up nation-wide.
“Most employers rely on their maids to care for their children as they have to pay rather hefty prices for sending their children to child care centres.

“By setting up child care centres in residential areas, parents would be able to send their children there instead of relying on maids.”
Andrew Chuah, a maid agency operator, felt that households still needed maids.
“If the law stipulates it, then the contract will definitely state that there will be one day off per week and that the passport will be held by the maid.

“Clauses can also be added in, allowing, for example, the maid and employer to sign an extra agreement stating that the maid expressly permits the employer to keep the passport and to pay her an extra allowance at a certain rate, should they choose to work on their days off.”

The DFA said in a statement that it would be unlawful to work as a domestic helper in both countries.

Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Francisco L. Benedicto said in a dispatch to the DFA that China’s and Mongolia’s border control and immigration authorities were stepping up their campaign to apprehend illegal workers and immigrants.

“Filipinos who are promised jobs as domestic helpers in China and Mongolia are always in danger of being arrested because foreign nationals are not allowed to work as domestic helpers in China and Mongolia,” Benedicto said.

“The embassy has been informed by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Public Security Bureau that domestic service employment in China is closed to foreigners.”

Benedicto said that illegal recruiters continued to victimize foreign job seekers, which resulted in the increasing number of foreigners coming and staying in China and Mongolia with inappropriate visa or working permit.

“Because they don’t have proper visa or work permit, foreign job seekers, including our kababayans, who have been victimized by unscrupulous recruiters tend to overstay, hoping to find jobs in China and Mongolia,” the ambassador said.

Foreigners who overstay or who did not have proper visas face hefty fines of up to 5,000 yuan (P33,000), detention and deportation from China.

In Mongolia, foreigners who overstay are fined up to $30 per day.

Benedicto suggested that prospective overseas Filipino workers take steps to avoid exploitation by asking their recruiters to issue official receipts, timely turnover of passports with appropriate work visas, draft employment contracts and contact details of employers.