New law adds safeguards for migrant workers

A BILL giving Filipinos who want to work abroad more protection lapsed into law after President Gloria Arroyo let the 30-day period within which to veto it pass.

The law makes the reprocessing of job orders illegal and bars recruitment companies from forcing applicants to take out loans and undergo training and medical tests that they offer.

Local recruiters had lobbied to have the ban on reprocessing of job orders removed, but Mrs. Arroyo allowed the bill to lapse into law on March 8.

The law, which amends the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, makes it illegal for recruiters to do the following:

• To grant an overseas workers a loan with an interest rate of more than 8 percent a year to cover placement fees

• To impose compulsory and exclusive loan arrangements as well as health examinations, skills training and seminars—except for seafarers whose cost of medical check-ups and schooling should be shouldered by the ship owner

• To refuse to condone or renegotiate a loan incurred by an overseas worker after the latter’s employment contract had been prematurely terminated through no fault of the migrant worker

• To deduct from an overseas worker’s salary the payment for insurance fees, premium and other insurance-related charges.

Under the new law, workers may only be deployed in countries that are signatories to multilateral conventions relating to the protection of migrant workers, have existing labor and social laws, and have concluded a bilateral agreement with the Philippine government on the protection of Filipino migrant workers.

Under-aged migrant workers will be immediately repatriated, and the license of manning agencies that recruit minors will be fined P1 million and their licenses automatically revoked.

The new law imposes a maximum fine of P2 million and imprisonment of up to 20 years on illegal recruiters.

If the illegal recruitment is considered economic sabotage, offenders face life imprisonment and a fine of P2 million to P5 million. –Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today