Press Release
January 19, 2009

Mobilize OWWA, Loren tells government

Senator Loren Legarda yesterday asked government to take a "closer look" at its present policy of allowing Filipinos to work abroad in the face of increasing incidents of abuses committed against overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Loren made the statement in reaction to the reported 29 OFWs stranded in Oman and are appealing to President Arroyo for their immediate repatriation.

Loren said the government should direct the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to speed up the repatriation process for "a day's delay would mean prolonged ordeal" on the part of the Filipino workers stranded in Oman.

She said OWWA should be prompt in taking the cudgels each time our embattled OFWs face adversity with regards to their working conditions and other violations that may be committed by their employers.

"What's the sense of having this OWWA which charges a certain amount on departing OFWs, but which seems helpless in addressing OFW concerns," she said.

OFW remittances reached 13.7 billion in the first 10 months of 2008. In October alone, OFWs remittances amounted to $1.4 billion, said to be the second-highest monthly amount recorded since the Philippine government started monitoring remittances in 1989.

"OFWs keep our economy afloat because of their remittances. But what a big shock if instead of remittances arriving, we hear them literally begging for help either because they are maltreated or deprived of their salaries," lamented Loren.

Last year, Loren had facilitated the immediate repatriation of nine OFWs who were prostituted in Malaysia.

"Poverty drives hundreds of thousands of our countrymen to seek employment abroad each year, with their remittances helping our economy.

Thus the government must be quick in responding to their call for help, she said.

Loren also urged the government to tighten its issuance of permits on prospective recruitment agencies as some of them may not be after the welfare of the Filipino workers wanting to work abroad.

She said agencies which have had a direct hand in the recruitment of maltreated OFWs should be made liable, adding that "agencies are the ones directly negotiating with the prospective employer."

The 29 OFWs stranded in Oman were reportedly recruited to work aboard a Taiwanese fishing vessel, but have not received a single centavo in salary since their employment began four years ago.

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