Local employment grim – lawmakers

WHILE nine out of 10 Filipinos are optimistic for 2011, employment opportunities in the country remain grim as shown by the 152-percent increase of overseas employment certificate in process with household service workers accounting for the majority of said applicants, lawmakers said Thursday.

Rep. Angelo Palmones of Agham party-list, member of the House Committee for Overseas Workers Affairs, noted that the increasing number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), particularly the household helpers, is a manifestation of very poor economic growth and the failure of the government to provide jobs.

“The Filipino family is more threatened by this phenomenon. PNoy must take this as a cue to revisit his national economic plans, if he has any,” Palmones said in a text message to The Manila Times.

“The mere fact that the increased numbers of Filipinos wanting to work abroad shows that Filipinos are not optimistic about work prospects here that they would rather risk their lives going abroad as household helpers,” Rep. Mitos Magsaysay of the First District of Zambales, also a member of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, added.

Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela party-list, a member of the House panel on OFWs, agreed with Magsaysay, saying that the lack of sustainable jobs in the country would result in more women choosing to take on the dirty, dangerous, difficult and prone to abuse jobs as household help.

“The government cannot stop this phenomenon of Filipinos leaving because it cannot offer alternatives. Besides, it is already the policy of government to facilitate migrant work since remittances are propping our economy. But despite this bonanza, government still fails to protect the rights of the OFWs,” Ilagan pointed out.

House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs Chairman and Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello offered solace to the situation, saying that the government should instead push for implementation of bilateral labor agreements and other pacts that will compel other governments to protect the rights of our OFWs.

The lawmakers made the statement a day after the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) revealed that the 152-percent increase of applicants developed amid the implementation of the amended Migrant Workers Act—wherein the government will ban the deployment of OFWs in countries without a Department of Foreign Affairs issued-certification of mandatory insurance coverage for OFWs.

But even the insurance provision does not sit well with Ilagan.

“The insurance should be optional as employers abroad already shoulder this. Recruitment agencies will only pass this [insurance fee] to the OFWs,” Ilagan said.

For his part, Tugna— a House Assistant Majority Leader—said a better local economy would keep Filipinos working in the country. “The government must provide a good economic environment to attract capitalists, local and foreign to invest here in our country. That way, our kababayans will not seek greener pastures abroad and be away with their families,” Tugna said.

“As a bonus, this will greatly reduce the social cost of having dysfunctional families resulting from working abroad,” Tugna who is also a member of the House committee on trade and industry added.

Alfredo Benitez (Negros Occidental), a member of the House committee on millennium developments goals, also said “more investments in the country should be sought to provide alternative employment, and avoid social costs of our working overseas.”
POEA chief Jennifer Manalili also cited that the condition of job orders in the United States and other Western countries continued to decrease because of effects of the worldwide financial crisis.

POEA data shows US and Canada posted a drop in hiring of OFWs in 2009 because of the financial crisis but they expect Canada to hire more Filipino workers next year.

“Yes, Jennifer is right. It is going to be a long recession with Europe entering a sovereign debt crisis and the US years away from recovery. I’ve been saying this to our economic managers for three years now, but they insist on giving rosy pictures of global recovery. We must fix up domestic economy instead of dreaming about prosperous markets to absorb our labor,” Bello added. –LLANESCA T. PANTI AND RUBEN D. MANAHAN 4TH REPORTERS, Manila Times