Manila: Workers rights’ activists have called on Philippine lawmakers to introduce laws that will protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), to match changes in recruitment policies of host countries, and to help older workers get employment when they return home.
“New laws are needed to help the Philippine Embassy and consulates including Philippine Overseas Labour Offices to cope with the new recruitment policy of Saudi Arabia. It will soon issue visa sponsorships of foreign workers through accredited [private] recruitment consortiums that are allowed to establish regional branches all over [the country],” Susan Ople, head of migrant workers’ rights group Ople Policy Centre, said in a meeting with senators.
“The new recruitment policy of Saudi Arabia poses a big challenge to the departments of foreign affairs and labour — they should have more manpower and resources to help monitor and protect OFWs who will soon be hired directly by recruitment agencies there,” Ople said.
“We anticipate a massive recruitment effort to be done by elite mega-recruitment consortiums that are accredited by the Saudi government,” Ople said, adding the set up will make it more difficult for the Philippine government to monitor the hiring and protection of OFWs.
At the same time, Congress should pass laws that will encourage, and not discourage, the hiring of workers because of their age, Ople said.
She told the lawmakers this will impact on returning OFWs who have acquired skills and expertise.
“The broad review of the country’s migration policies must include the implications of age discrimination in the workplace on returning OFWs,” Ople said, adding, “OFWs keep on leaving for work abroad because of age discrimination in many Philippine-based companies.”
“For example, many OFWs who are only above 30, skilled, and disciplined, have complained they could not land a job in the Philippines,” Ople said, adding the Philippines must solve the problem of having “deskilled” returning OFWs.
Explaining the importance of making new laws to conform with changes abroad and in the Philippines, Ople said the Philippine government is following labour laws that were crafted 40 years ago, when it began sending out OFWs.
“Are our laws, policies and bureaucratic structures for overseas employment still relevant and effective today as they were 40 years ago? It would take several committee hearings to arrive at the right answer,” Ople said.
“The world has vastly changed since then. Our workers overseas face multiple risks due to political, economic, and security issues as well as climate and technology changes [abroad and at home] that are beyond their control.”
There are 10 million OFWs based worldwide, two million of whom are based in the Middle East. OFWs send an average of $25 billion to relatives in the Philippines every year.
