Taiwanese legislators pushing for 'indefinite' freeze on Pinoy labor

Lawmakers from Taiwan's ruling party called on their leaders Thursday to indefinitely freeze the hiring of Filipino workers as a show of dissatisfaction over what they called Manila's "unfriendly" attitude toward Taiwan. Kuomintang caucus convener George Hsieh noted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III had insisted his government will not apologize for deporting 14 Taiwanese to Mainland China on Feb. 2. Aquino's remarks, made after former Senator Manuel Roxas II's visit to Taipei, “fully demonstrated that Manila has been unfriendly towards the government and people of Taiwan," he said, according to a report on Taiwan's Central News Agency Thursday night. The Taiwanese government should thus “immediately freeze the importation of Philippine workers until the Philippines changes its mind and demonstrates its 'goodwill' toward Taiwan," he added. For his part, Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) deputy minister Pan Shih-wei said the CLA is ready to ban migrant Philippine workers. Pan said local businesses have given the assurance that they would support such a ban, if necessary. The row stemmed from the deportation of 14 Taiwanese to mainland China from the Philippines last Feb. 2. As a result, Taiwan has tightened the requirements on Taipei-bound Filipinos to show its displeasure toward the way the Philippines is handling the situation. Aquino sent Roxas to Taipei to explain the Philippine side on the deportation, but Roxas refused to extend an apology, saying that was not his instructions from Manila. This prompted threats from Taiwanese officials to freeze the hiring of Filipino workers. Roxas, however, promised that Manila would discipline any Philippine officials found to have acted out of line on the matter. For his part, Aquino was optimistic Wednesday that the Philippine-Taiwan rift will be resolved without the Philippine government having to say sorry to the Taiwan government for the deportation. "They were asking for us to apologize and I don't believe that there is something we have to apologize for, given the circumstances," Aquino was quoted as saying. The CNA report said some 77,000 Filipinos are in Taiwan, accounting for 20 percent of the foreign workers in the country. Most of the Filipinos are are employed in the manufacturing sector. A 'serious setback' For their part, several lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party labeled the issue as a "serious setback" to Taiwan's diplomatic efforts and asked that Foreign Minister Timothy Yang step down to bear responsibility for the incident. A Philippine-based recruitment agency meanwhile slammed the Aquino administration for its “stubbornness" in insisting not to issue an apology. In a statement, the Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan Inc. (PILMAT) likewise called on Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda to refrain from making “insensitive" remarks that only serve to fan Taiwan’s anger. “The Philippine government’s stubbornness in refusing to issue an apology is taking it’s toll with the over 100,000 workers now in Taiwan whose renewal of contracts are now imperiled with the non-apology of President Aquino’s administration and the insensitive remarks of Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda that the administration will not issue an apology," the group said in a statement. The group nevertheless hopes that Aquino will reconsider his adamant stance against issuing an apology and think of the welfare of the tens of thousands of OFWs who may lose their jobs in Taiwan if the deportation remains unresolved. It added that former President Fidel Ramos’s visit to the island on March 1 will help repair the strained relationship between the two countries. — With Jerrie Abella/VS, GMA News