Repatriating a stranded OFW isn’t that easy

I write this column in the hope of disabusing the public mind of recurring criticisms that the government—in particular the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)—had been “dragging its feet” in the repatriation of stranded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

A number of times, the OWWA was unjustly accused of being remiss in its job to bring home overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have run away from abusive employers. Actually, OWWA Administrator May Dimzon has been doing a good job but appears not appreciated for it.

I hold no brief for the OWWA chief, but my compelling interest in writing this column is to make the public understand the great difficulty of repatriating OFWs in physical or legal distress back to their homeland.

As a former labor attaché for 11 years, assigned mostly to hard-post countries in the Middle East—Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Libya—I was a “front man” in the government’s first line of defense for OFWs’ protection against employers’ abuse and exploitation.

The repatriation of OFWs in distress may look easy, but it is not. When I was in Iraq, I spent much time negotiating with immigration authorities for the issuance of exit visas for our stranded workers. I was held hostage to its long and complicated process.

In July 1989, at the height of the shooting war between Muslims in West Beirut and Christians in East Beirut, I led a team to evacuate to Manila an estimated 200 women workers not only being hounded by Lebanese immigration agents for overstaying but were also in great peril of being maimed or killed in the war.

It took our government some time making diplomatic arrangements with the Lebanese government for the issuance of exit visas for the workers and with the Syrian government for allowing them free passage from Beirut to the Damascus airport where a chartered Philippine Air Lines plane had landed to bring the workers home.

The request for exit visas goes through a rigid process the control of which rests not with our embassies or consulates but with the immigration department of a foreign government.

The labor attaché or consular officer handling a particular repatriation case has to wait for the immigration office to approve a request for such exit visa. Only when the exit visa is released can OWWA provide a ticket for the home-bound worker.

Take the case of a sexually abused or in other ways maltreated Filipino maid who runs away from her employer. Usually, before a Filipino maid assumes her duties, the employer commits the human rights abuse of taking and keeping her passport to prevent her from leaving to transfer to another employer.

The first problem of the Philippine Embassy or consulate in working for her repatriation is the recovery of her passport. A vindictive employer not only refuses to release her passport but even files a falsified criminal charge, usually theft, against her.

The government then immediately provides her with a lawyer to take up her defense in court.

When she wins her case and gets back her passport, she has to go through another process, which is to obtain an exit visa from the immigration office.

In more complicated cases, like the repatriation of illegal or undocumented OFWs, the Philippine Embassy or consulate has to go through the same difficult process of seeking exit clearances from the immigration office. Having violated a law for overstaying, the OFWs are detained in a deportation cell.

They are normally required to pay immigration fines, the computation of which depends on the number of days they have been detained. The fines are paid for by OWWA.

“There is no problem with money insofar as buying the repatriation tickets for stranded workers is concerned,” said Administrator Dimzon. “The delay is not with OWWA but with the tedious process of securing exit visas for them.”

She said the membership fees of OWWA members, which are held in trust, cannot be touched for the repatriation of illegal or undocumented workers without the approval of the OWWA Board of Trustees.

In 2010, funding the repatriation of stranded workers will be less of a problem. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said P25 million in repatriation fund for distressed OFWs has been allocated in the new national budget. He said that if necessary, the fund will be supplemented with OWWA funds. –ALFREDO G. ROSARIO, Manila Times

agr0324@yahoo.com