Global forum won't help solve OFW woes - groups
MANILA, Philippines - The government is hopeful, but a coalition of 25 organizations is doubtful that a major international event on migration and development that will be held in the Philippines in October will lead to solving the problems of thousands of Filipino workers victimized abroad.
In an interview on Tuesday, Claro Cristobal, spokesperson of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, said the second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) “aims to show that migration actually has a positive contribution to development."
In order for the OFWS to benefit from this development, the well-being and rights of migrants and migrant workers should be protected, according to Cristobal.
However, 25 groups belonging to the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), the convenor on the Philippine working group on the GFMD parallel event, are skeptical about the objectives of the government-led forum.
“We want a genuine discussion of migration and development," said Ma. Lorena Macabuag, MFA project coordinator, in an interview with GMANews.TV on Tuesday.
Macabuag said the Arroyo administration “should not use migrant issues during the forum to push for their development plans," which do not benefit Filipinos.
She also criticized the administration for allegedly relying on work available for Filipinos abroad instead of generating employment for them in their own country.
Institutionalization
The administration is being criticized by several cause-oriented groups in the Philippines for allegedly institutionalizing labor migration as a solution to the economic crisis being faced by the country.
The groups claim that while Filipinos endure hardships in working abroad, and even risk their lives, the Philippine government takes a big chunk of the money being sent home by OFWs.
As of 2007, the stock estimate of Filipinos overseas was 8.2 million. The Philippines is the world’s number one sender of Filipino workers abroad.
The government charges a 0.15-percent documentary stamp tax for every OFW remittance transaction. Groups such as Migrante claim that for every US$1-billion remittance, the government reaps US$1.5 million or about P62 million.
Migrante also claims that banks and other private businesses rake in profits from remittances. For every $200 remittance sent monthly, $15 to $22 is charged as service fee. For 10 million OFWs sending remittances, banks earn a staggering $1 billion monthly.
A recent study by the National Statistics showed that thousands of unskilled OFWs such as domestic helpers and construction workers are among the biggest contributors to the Philippine economy.
Money sent home last year by Filipinos working abroad was nearly one-fifth more than the official figures reported by the government, according to a study by a London-based organization.
Instead of receiving $14.45 billion, the Philippines actually got some $17 billion in remittances last year, the research unit of the London-based Economist Magazine said in its July 2008 report.
Sensitive issue
The GFMD came out of the recommendations of the 2006 UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in New York. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the “sensitive issue of migration" was hardly discussed by UN member-states for many years until the said dialogue.
He said the GFMD would serve as platform to “understand the implications of the migration phenomenon," as well as “counter the marginalization, abuse, and discrimination that some groups of migrants still face today."
The first GFMD was held in Brussels, Belgium in July 2007. This year’s GFMD will be held in Manila from October 27 to 30. Policies on migration and its relationship to development, including migrants’ rights, and negotiations on bilateral agreements on migration are expected to be discussed during the forum.
According to the MFA, over 250 million people worldwide are migrants. Yearly, these migrants transfer US$300 billion remittance to their home countries, which is more than triple of the total international aid.
However, despite the migrants’ huge contribution to world economy, migration policies are “largely discriminatory, and exploitative, and therefore fail to protect migrants’ rights, and even cause, reinforce, or intensify gender, class, and systematic abuses," according to the MFA. - with reports from Kimberly T. Tan, GMANews.TV
In an interview on Tuesday, Claro Cristobal, spokesperson of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, said the second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) “aims to show that migration actually has a positive contribution to development."
In order for the OFWS to benefit from this development, the well-being and rights of migrants and migrant workers should be protected, according to Cristobal.
However, 25 groups belonging to the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), the convenor on the Philippine working group on the GFMD parallel event, are skeptical about the objectives of the government-led forum.
“We want a genuine discussion of migration and development," said Ma. Lorena Macabuag, MFA project coordinator, in an interview with GMANews.TV on Tuesday.
Macabuag said the Arroyo administration “should not use migrant issues during the forum to push for their development plans," which do not benefit Filipinos.
She also criticized the administration for allegedly relying on work available for Filipinos abroad instead of generating employment for them in their own country.
Institutionalization
The administration is being criticized by several cause-oriented groups in the Philippines for allegedly institutionalizing labor migration as a solution to the economic crisis being faced by the country.
The groups claim that while Filipinos endure hardships in working abroad, and even risk their lives, the Philippine government takes a big chunk of the money being sent home by OFWs.
As of 2007, the stock estimate of Filipinos overseas was 8.2 million. The Philippines is the world’s number one sender of Filipino workers abroad.
The government charges a 0.15-percent documentary stamp tax for every OFW remittance transaction. Groups such as Migrante claim that for every US$1-billion remittance, the government reaps US$1.5 million or about P62 million.
Migrante also claims that banks and other private businesses rake in profits from remittances. For every $200 remittance sent monthly, $15 to $22 is charged as service fee. For 10 million OFWs sending remittances, banks earn a staggering $1 billion monthly.
A recent study by the National Statistics showed that thousands of unskilled OFWs such as domestic helpers and construction workers are among the biggest contributors to the Philippine economy.
Money sent home last year by Filipinos working abroad was nearly one-fifth more than the official figures reported by the government, according to a study by a London-based organization.
Instead of receiving $14.45 billion, the Philippines actually got some $17 billion in remittances last year, the research unit of the London-based Economist Magazine said in its July 2008 report.
Sensitive issue
The GFMD came out of the recommendations of the 2006 UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in New York. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the “sensitive issue of migration" was hardly discussed by UN member-states for many years until the said dialogue.
He said the GFMD would serve as platform to “understand the implications of the migration phenomenon," as well as “counter the marginalization, abuse, and discrimination that some groups of migrants still face today."
The first GFMD was held in Brussels, Belgium in July 2007. This year’s GFMD will be held in Manila from October 27 to 30. Policies on migration and its relationship to development, including migrants’ rights, and negotiations on bilateral agreements on migration are expected to be discussed during the forum.
According to the MFA, over 250 million people worldwide are migrants. Yearly, these migrants transfer US$300 billion remittance to their home countries, which is more than triple of the total international aid.
However, despite the migrants’ huge contribution to world economy, migration policies are “largely discriminatory, and exploitative, and therefore fail to protect migrants’ rights, and even cause, reinforce, or intensify gender, class, and systematic abuses," according to the MFA. - with reports from Kimberly T. Tan, GMANews.TV
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