‘Ban abusive employers, not countries’

Punish abusive foreign employers but don’t ban the deployment of Filipino workers to their countries.

An association of recruiters has called on the government not to unduly antagonize countries hosting overseas Filipino workers by classifying them as unfit destinations for OFWs.

The Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (Pasei) said the government “should exercise caution and seriously consider potential serious repercussions in our diplomatic and economic relations,” particularly with member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) where a large number of OFWs are concentrated.

The governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is meeting this week to deliberate on the country certifications submitted to it by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Based on the certifications, the POEA would decide whether or not to allow the continuous deployment of OFWs to these countries.

Under Section III of Republic Act No. 10022—which amended RA 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995—the DFA is mandated to issue certifications that host countries’ labor and social laws, conventions, declarations, resolutions and bilateral agreements ensure the protection of OFWs’ rights.

The POEA board relies on these certifications to determine whether or not a host country is compliant with RA 10022 and to authorize or ban the deployment of OFWs to noncompliant countries.

Pasei president Victor Fernandez Jr. said that classifying a host country as non-compliant “must be considered with extreme care and utmost caution.”

He said an unfavorable rating “could be misinterpreted as an affront to that country and might invite retaliatory action.”

“As this action by our government may be received as an unfriendly, hostile act by the governments that may fall under the non-complaint classification, Pasei calls on the government to exercise prudence and extreme caution in making public the country certifications,” Fernandez said.