Pinays discouraged from seeking work as DH

The Philippine government is trying to discourage women workers from leaving the country and work as domestic helpers overseas, Philippine Consul General Antonio Curameng said in Dubai as the consulate prepares for the repatriation of 65 runaway Filipinos there to Manila. Unpaid salaries, physical and sexual abuse, overwork and contractl disputes were the common reasons domestic helpers give in seeking refuge at the shelter centers at the Philippine embassies abroad. On Monday, 45 Filipino women were scheduled to arrive in three batches at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport coming from Dubai and Kuwait under the Philippine labor department’s Special Repatriation Program. Thirty of them were from Dubai and another 35 will be sent home as soon as their unpaid wages were settled by their employers. Arab Times reported Monday that 55 stranded OFWs who were housed temporarily at the Filipino Workers Resource Center left Kuwait on Sunday and were scheduled to be back in Manila Monday afternoon on board Gulf Air and Kuwait Airways flights. “We would like to thank the Kuwaiti government for helping us expedite the repatriation of our stranded OFWs," said Philippine Labor Attache Leopoldo De Jesus. The report said 130 more OFWs are awaiting repatriation at the FWRC in Kuwait. Last week, 108 distressed OFWs from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and 26 from Beirut, Lebanon came home under the same program. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported last week that around 74 workers in Abu Dhabi will benefit from the program, including 27 in Qatar, and 85 in Kuwait. Rape victim One of the repatriates is a 24-year-old domestic helper who went to the Philippine shelter in Dubai in January after she was allegedly raped by two teenage boys near her employers’ home. The woman said she was washing her employer’s car at 5 am on January 13 when the boys picked her up, took her to a vacant lot and took turns raping her inside the car. In a report on Gulf News on Monday, Curameng noted that the majority of labor problems the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Dubai handle involve domestic helpers who have run away from their employers because of non-payment of salaries, non-compliance with employment contracts, and different forms of maltreatment. According to Curameng, the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department (DNRD) has granted an appeal made by the Philippine Consulate General (PCG), shortening the usual two-week visa cancellation procedure to a three-day transaction. Workers, most of whom have absconding reports filed against them by their employers, were exempted from serving jail terms. Depending on their offenses, immigration restrictions ranging from a one-year to a lifetime ban were imposed on workers. Options available The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is handling the workers’ repatriation costs. Philippine Labor Attache in Dubai Virginia Calvez said the repatriates have three options available to them when they arrived in Manila. If the workers choose to apply again for jobs overseas, seek local (Philippine) employment or start their own business, the OWWA will help them through the re-integration Center, which is managed by welfare officers and former labor attaches," she said. Noting that some of the repatriated women who worked as domestic helpers in the Middle East were actually college degree holders, Calvez said the DOLE is encouraging them to seek jobs that are related to their courses should they opt to seek overseas employment once more. "Since they are already rich in experience, what they have learned in the UAE should help them prepare for their next venture overseas. We hope they would be wiser by reviewing their contracts and inquiring with the proper authorities in the Philippines about the legitimacy of their recruitment agencies," Calvez said in a report in Khaleej Times. Self-employment Another option available is for the OFWs to stay at home and learn the ropes of entrepreneurship, according to Curameng. "The Philippine government is actually encouraging Filipinos to be entrepreneurs in line with its economic strategy. This will also hold more benefits for the country because it will minimize the number of social problems often associated with parents working overseas and living away from their children," he said. Curameng explained that discouraging Filipino women from working as domestic helpers overseas was a protective measure the government is taking to at least reduce incidents of exploitation. "Domestic helpers are the most vulnerable to exploitation," he pointed out. "People are taking advantage of Filipinos' good nature and hard work. If they know how to value the Filipinos, then [the employers] would not mistreat them," Curameng said. One of the problems related to domestic workers is some sponsors' attempts to cut corners by recruiting Filipinos to do professional and skilled jobs, but giving them a domestic worker's visa instead. Domestic worker's visa, plus expenses and fees, costs Dh2,000, about Dh1,500 less than a regular employment visa, Gulf News reported. The government is providing alternatives for the women, through the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration (OWWA), by giving them skills-training to help them secure professional jobs and loans to help them start a business. The move is the latest in a series of initiatives set by the Philippine government to protect its nationals who seek employment as domestic workers. On April 1, the UAE and the Philippines agreed to a unified contract for domestic workers, including raising the minimum wage from $200 (Dh734) to $400 (Dh1,468). Remittances Statistics from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that Filipino workers in Dubai increased by 96 percent to Dh 195.4 million in January to February this year, from Dh 100 million for the same period in 2006. In the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, OFW remittances totaled Dh 107.4 million in January to February, up by 70 percent from Dh63.2 million during the same period last year. Total OFW remittances from UAE reached Dh303 million in the first two months of the year, which was 86 percent more than Dh163.1 million remittances for the same period in 2006. OFWs in the UAE are estimated at 250,000. UAE, especially Dubai, has become a favorite destination for OFWs. - GMANews.TV, with reports from Fidel Jimenez