RP blacklist may bar Pinoys from work abroad

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos may have a difficult time finding employment in the world’s 20 richest countries after the Philippines was identified as an “uncooperative tax haven," a recruitment consultant said. Nations belonging to the G-20 may withhold employment for Filipinos especially if Manila fails to take steps that would make bank secrecy and tax information more transparent, recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said. Since a number of OFWs remit dollars through informal channels and entities, these remittances are converted to pesos when they arrive. However, the dollar component [of their remittances] is stashed abroad in tax havens like the “Caymans or Swiss banks," Geslani said. “Our banking laws like the anti-money laundering council still needs amendments to forestall money laundering in the country as this has been viewed by the G-20 as inadequate," he added. Last week, the G-20 and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – both groups whose member countries employ thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) – identified the Philippines as an “uncooperative tax haven." The two groups also identified on the list of countries that had not committed to the internationally agreed standard on exchanging tax information. “The US has already flexed its muscle on the Philippines when as a result of the Philippine pullout in Iraq, pressured Japan to tighten up human trafficking on Filipino entertainers by imposing strict rules which practically barred Filipino entertainers," Geslani noted. Banning Filipino workers may be used as a way to “pressure" Manila to reform laws covering tax information and banking secrecy, Geslani added. Disallowing Filipino employment abroad is expected to threaten the Philippines’ remittances, which keep the local economy afloat. Besides accounting for a twelfth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), money sent home by OFWs also contribute to consumer spending, which in turn is estimated at 70 percent of the Philippines’ total output. - GMANews.TV