EU to legalize Pinoys’ stay

Europeans also to help Manila solve killings

Instead of flushing out the around 100,000 undocumented Filipinos in Europe, the European Union (EU) plans to legalize their stay for helping keep the continent’s economy afloat amid the global economic crisis.

Meanwhile, the EU allocated P270 million to help the Philippines address the problems with extrajudicial killings.

Ambassador Christina Ortega revealed that legalizing the undocumented Filipinos aliens in Europe, as well as issuance of blue cards to Filipino professionals who wish to work in Europe, was suggested in negotiations between the Philippines and the European Union on the proposed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) held in Manila last week.

“This measure is being considered to encourage those without documents to voluntarily opt to legalize their status,” Ortega told a press briefing held at the Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

She said the issuance of a blue card would make the European Union’s migration policy even better, since the card allows its owner to bring in his family to Europe.

“I think it’s a good start, and we are very optimistic that the PCA will consider this since this would really protect our migrant workers in Europe,” Ortega added.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Edcel Custodio said that the Philippines and the European Union held a technical meeting in September concerning migration issues, and that the two sides agreed on strengthening the human-rights framework for the benefit of migrant workers.

Migrant workers protected

James Moran, the director for Asia of the External Relations Department of the European Commission, said that the agreement would make sure that the rights of legal migrant workers in Europe were well protected. The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union.

Moran noted that one million Filipinos working in Europe were remitting 2 million euros a year to their families in the Philippines.

Europe already has the European Union’s Employer Sanctions Directive in place that is expected to take effect in the spring and become enforceable in the 27 member states on or before the third quarter of 2011.

The sanctions directive requires all employers (including individual household employers) to verify the status of their migrant employees thru their residence permit or other authorization to stay and notify the authorities as well.

Human rights

Also on Thursday, the European Union announced that it has allocated 3.9 million euros (about P270 million) for the EU-Philippine Justice Support Program, or EPJUST, in an effort to intensify the capacity of the Philippines to address extrajudicial killings in the country.

The announcement was made after Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, signed the Financing Agreement for the EU-Philippine Justice Support Program on Thursday.

Also present at the ceremony were Ortega, Moran and Ambassador Luis Arias Romero of Spain, which is the president of the European Union.

The justice support program will start before the end of this year and will be completed by March 2011. The program will provide support, advice, technical assistance and training in several areas, such as strengthening the criminal justice system namely investigation, prosecution, judiciary, as well as boost the initiatives being undertaken by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights and other civil society groups working in this area, such as human rights awareness training for the police and military.

“The EPJUST program will help all stakeholders in the Philippines both from government and from civil society, as well as the relevant constitutional bodies to work together to bring an end to extralegal killings and enforced disappearances, of political activists, journalists, trade unionists or farmers’ representatives, and to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators,” MacDonald said.

He added that the financing agreement confirms the willingness of the EU and of the Philippines to work together even in sensitive areas such as governance reflective of the spirit of partnership built up over the years.

Also, the program will back the establishment of a credible and effective national monitoring system, which will bring together all Philippine stakeholders to help track the nation’s progress in addressing the issue.

“While the incidence of these killings has declined significantly since 2007, it is regrettable that there have been so few convictions in relation to the killings of political activists,” MacDonald said.

According to the Philippine human rights group Karapatan, there were at least 34 cases of extrajudicial killings in the first half of 2009, and more than 1,000 in the last decade. –Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter, Manila Times