Villar repatriates 23 distressed OFWs from Jordan, bats for better
protection of Filipino workers abroad

Senate President Manny Villar arrived from his visit to Jordan today, bringing with him 23 distressed overseas Filipino workers and a 7-month-old infant.

Villar also pushed for better protection of Filipino workers abroad as he hailed the drafting of an agreement by Philippine embassy officials and the Jordanian government in the hope to end abuse of OFWs in the Kingdom.

The protocol is part of the memorandum of understanding on labor cooperation still to be finalized and signed by the two countries. It fixes the minimum age requirement of home service workers (HSW) to 30 years old and introduces a system of blacklisting Jordanian recruiters and employers who have a record of maltreatment.

"Fixing the age requirement is important as many of the runaways who sought refuge in our Amman embassy are underage. There are 13-year-olds who easily passed as 24-year-olds," Villar said.

He noted that the labor center in Jordan is housing 116 OFWs who left their employers because of maltreatment. Of the number, only 12 are documented.

The Nacionalista Party president also urged RP officials in Amman to finalize the MOU and make sure that the interests of Filipino workers will be protected.

"A similar agreement on the recruitment and employment of OFWs should also be adopted in other states where there is a big concentration of OFWs to improve Filipino workers conditions and address particular problems in the labor field," he added.