A MIGRANT group in Negros Island Region (NIR) urged President Rodrigo Duterte to protect the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) especially those working in the Arab countries.
Members of Migrante Negros and families of some OFWs gathered at the Fountain of Justice in Bacolod City Friday to commemorate the 22nd death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, a domestic worker in Singapore accused of murdering a fellow Filipino maid and a four-year-old Singaporean child in 1995.
Monina Gulmatico, coordinator of Migrante Negros, said they conducted a picket in front of the local offices of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) at the Old City Hall to call on the administration to prioritize the situation of OFWs especially those who want to go back to the Philippines and be with their families after suffering maltreatment from their foreign employers.
Gulmatico said that Duterte, during his campaign mentioned that he will help the OFWs and protect them.
“Where are the president’s promises? We need service and protection for the OFWs and not business and collection from anybody,” she added.
Gulmatico said they are also pushing for the abolition of Republic Act 8042 or Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, an act to institute the policies of overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant workers, their families and overseas Filipinos in distress, and for other purposes.
She added that thousands of Filipinos working abroad are suffering because of the unpleasant treatment of their employers and the situation is even getting worse.
Gulmatico shared the story of 38-year-old Rodelito Ronquillo of E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental, who is continuously asking the help of Owwa and POEA for the immediate repatriation of his wife, who is being accused of theft by her employer in Kuwait.
Instead of helping Ronquillo’s wife to go home, these agencies gave her options to stay with her employer for the remaining one year and a half with communication to her family and salary, or go with her recruitment agency and stay for six years without communication and salary, she added.
