Groups score gov’t for inaction on plight of OFWs

01/15/2009 | 06:39 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Members of Kilusang Mayo Uno and Migrante International on Thursday picketed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to protest the government’s alleged inaction on the plight of retrenched overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

QTV’s “Balitanghali” reported that the groups, together with some OFWs who lost their jobs in Taiwan, demanded that the government give back the alleged exorbitant fees that recruitment agencies charged them.

“We condemn the continued government inaction to our demands,” Crisitina de Borja, a retrenched worker, said. “At the minimum we demand that the exorbitant placement fees recruitment agencies have charged will be given back to us. This is the law and we cannot understand why the government cannot enforce it.”

In the same statement, Migrante chairman Garry Martinez criticized the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) for allegedly tolerating recruitment agencies that collect overprized placement fees, insisting that the money be given back to those who left their jobs.

“Let me make it clear that up to this very moment, not a single cent was given to the OFWs,” he said. “This proves that government has literally no contingency plan for OFWs whatsoever in response to the global financial crisis.”

The other demands of the laid-off workers include the payment of the unexpired portion of their contracts and the full payment of their repatriation from Taiwan.

“We want to hear directly from Secretary [Marianito] Roque why [the] government’s promises have all been empty so far,” De Borja said in a statement. “With the way the government has been neglecting us, we feel that we have truly been victimized not only by the recruiters, by our companies, but also by our government.”

GMA reporter James Velasquez also quoted the protesters as saying that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a “liar” for reportedly taking back the check she gave the retrenched Filipino workers from Taiwan on Dec. 2.

“We are already fed up with promises made by DOLE and the Arroyo administration,” Martinez said.

Secretary Roque later met with Migrante representatives to discuss the issues raised. – Kimberly Jane Tan, GMANews.TV

Migrante celebrates victory of Sentosa nurses

D’JAY LAZARO, GMANews.TV
01/31/2009 | 05:24 PM

MANILA, Philippines — Migrante International, together with the relatives and friends of the nurses tagged as the Sentosa 27++, celebrated the legal victory of the ten nurses and one lawyer acquitted from the criminal charges filed against them by SentosaCare LLC in New York.

The nurses, former employees of Avalon Gardens in Woodmere, New York, were charged with patient endangerment by SentosaCare after they resigned from their posts in 2006 due to unpaid back wages, discrimination and being recruited under false pretenses.

The lawyer they went to for advice was charged with criminal solicitation.

Earlier this year, an appeals court cleared them of the charges, which it said violated the nurses’ 13th Amendment rights that protect against “involuntary servitude.”

In the case of the lawyer. the court said to “potentially inflict punishment for the good faith provision of legal advice is, in our view, more than a First Amendment violation. It is an assault on the adversarial system of justice.”

The nurses contended they left work at the end of their shifts and that no patient was ever in danger.

One, Maria Theresa Ramos, told The Associated Press she stayed four hours past the scheduled end of her shift to ensure that the patients received proper care.

Gina Gaborni, Migrante’s deputy secretary general, said: “This victory is, indeed, a vindication for the nurses.

“This is a glimmer of hope for migrant workers who are up against an unscrupulous giant such as SentosaCare.”

The nurses are part of the group called Sentosa 27++, all health workers recruited in the Philippines by the SRA.

They signed contracts with specific agencies only to find out, once in the States, that they were farmed out to agencies different from the ones they had an agreement with. When they resigned, they were charged with breach of contract by SentosaCare LLC.

The nurses fought back and filed illegal recruitment cases against SRA at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POE), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Justice.

Initially, the POEA found grounds to temporarily suspend Sentosa but after then Cabinet member Mike Defensor intervened in behalf of SRA, the suspension order was cancelled and subsequent cases were dismissed.

“This is a clear case of illegal recruitment, or human trafficking and government once again proved the interests they serve are not the interests of migrant workers,” Gaborni said. ” How ironic that we are taking heart from the justice system of a foreign country rather than from our own government.”

But Gaborni said the fight will continue. “The Sentosa Recruitment Agency must be shut down!” she said.

In early 2007, Nafcon launched a community-led campaign called “Justice for the Sentosa 27++.”

The 10 Avalon nurses along with more than 17 others, all health workers recruited from the same agency in the Philippines, had found themselves collectively duped by SentosaCare LLC for signing false contracts whose tenets were not honored once they migrated to the United States .

Essentially trafficked, the 26 nurses and one physical therapist were instead farmed out to a number of SentosaCare-owned nursing facilities throughout the New York area. When each found themselves under similar conditions as the 10 nurses of Avalon Gardens, they resigned and now each have civil case charges of breach of contract by SentosaCare LLC. – GMANews.TV and < AP

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‘Sentosa verdict places RP probes in question’
KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV

01/17/2009 | 02:34 PM

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino-American lawyer on Saturday urged the Philippine bodies that ruled against the so-called Sentosa nurses to review their respective processes in view of a US court ruling on a related case.

Lawyer Salvador Tuy, one of the counsels who successfully defended the Filipino nurses in the case filed by American firm Sentosa Recruitment Agency in New York, said it was unbelievable that the very agencies that were supposed to protect the welfare of Filipino workers were unable to see the merits of the case.

Tuy said he was referring to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as well as the Philippine Department of Justice and the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), which all ruled against the nurses in their complaints against Sentosa in 2006.

During that year, the nurses complained to the POEA that Sentosa failed to fulfill its commitment to let them work in specific nursing homes in the US. They said that upon their arrival in New York, they found out that they were made to work for an employment agency and received less than what was stipulated in their contracts.

When their complaints were ignored, 55 nurses resigned from the Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in April 2006, after which many of them returned to work in the fear of paying a $25,000-fine to SRA.

Ten of the nurses, however, fought on and ended up being charged in court for endangering their patients by quitting their jobs.

Last January 13, a New York court deemed the 10 nurses not guilty as charged, saying they were “threatened with prosecution for crimes for which they cannot constitutionally be tried.”

The nurses involved in the case were Elmer Jacinto, Juliet Anilao, Harriet Avila, Mark de la Cruz, Claudine Gamiao, Jennifer Lampa, Rizza Maulion, James Millena, Ma. Theresa Ramos, and Ranier Sichon, and their lawyer, Felix Vinluan. –

Blind or pressured?

Lawyer Tuy said the New York court ruling seemed to show that there was something wrong with the way Philippine agencies were handling cases involving powerful groups.

He said what the US court’s decision was saying is that “the act of resignation is not punishable because they cannot compel you to work for the employer under the voluntary servitude law.”

“Why is it that the US court saw this pero hindi ito nakita ng POEA? Bakit hindi nila makita na dito violation yan, violation ng Philippine law and yet the conclusion is not the same?” he asked, noting that the ruling was not from an ordinary US court but from an appellate court.

“[Y]ou know, the decision of the POEA on the same facts, then the decision of the Secretary of Labor basically based on the same facts, I just cannot see how they cannot see what is plain,” said Tuy.

“Under POEA law, hindi kayo pwedeng magpalit ng employer without the consent of the nurses, ‘yun ang namiss ng POEA (Under POEA law, you cannot change employers without the consent of the nurses, that’s what the POEA missed),” he added.

When De Castro asked whether Philippine probers were pressured, Tuy said it was no secret that a powerful US senator intervened on behalf of Sentosa.

He added that although the nurses have been acquitted of the criminal charges, they still have a pending civil case against SRA for bridge of contract, for which Tuy said they will have a trial conference on January 22.

Meanwhile, Tuy warned aspiring overseas Filipino workers not to trust manpower agencies like Sentosa.

“What I want to point out to those applying to Sentosa, open your eyes,” he said. – GMANews.TV

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Pananaw tungkol sa Nigeria travel ban

Ambag na pananaw ni Pastor Billy, a.k.a. ang Carlo Magno ng Lekki, halaw sa baul po daw ng Mga Kwentong Lasing Part 3.

Hindi mayaman ang OFW –

We have this notion na ‘pag OFW o nasa abroad ay mayaman na. Hindi totoo yun. A regular OFW might earn from P50K-P300K per month depende sa lokasyon. Yung mga taga Australia, Canada, Kazakstan or US siguro ay mas malaki ang sweldo, lalo na daw mga taga Nigeria but to say that they’re rich is a fallacy (amen!).

Malaki ang pangangailangan kaya karamihan ay nag-a-abroad.  Maraming bunganga ang kailangang pakainin kaya umaalis ang mga pipol sa Pilipinas. Madalas, 3/4 o kalahati ng sweldo ay napupunta sa tuition ng anak at gastusin ng pamilya.

Mahirap maging OFW –

Kailangan magtipid hangga’t kaya. Oo, masarap ang pagkain sa abroad pero madalas na paksiw o adobo at itlog lang tinitira para makaipon. Pagdating ng kinsenas o katapusan, ang unang tinitingnan eh ang conversion ng Peso sa Dollar o Euro o Rial o Naira. Mas okay na magtiis sa konti kaysa gutumin ang pamilya. Kapag umuuwi, kailangan may baon kahit konti kasi maraming kamag-anak ang sumusundo sa airport o naghihintay sa probinsya. Alam mo naman ‘pag Pinoy, yung tsismis na OFW ka eh surely attracts a lot of kin.

Kapag hindi mo nabigyan ng pasalubong eh magtatampo na yun at sisiraan ka na. Well, hindi naman lahat pero I’m sure sa mga OFW dito eh may mga pangyayaring ganun. Magtatrabaho ka sa bansang iba ang tingin sa mga Pinoy. Malamang marami ang naka-experience ng gulang o discrimination to their various workplaces. Sige lang, tiis lang, iniiyak na lang kasi kawawa naman pamilya pag umuwi.

Besides, wala ka naman talagang maasahang trabaho sa Philippines ngayon.Mahal ang bigas, ang gatas, ang sardinas, ang upa sa apartment. Tiis lang kahit maraming kupal sa trabaho, kahit may sakit at walang nag-aalaga,kahit hindi masarap ang tsibog, kahit pangit ang working conditions, kahit delikado, kahit mahirap. Kapag nakapadala ka na, okay na, tawag lang, “hello! kumusta na kayo?”.

Hindi bato ang OFW –

Tao rin ang OFW, hindi money o cash machine. Napapagod rin, nalulungkot (madalas),nagkakasakit, nag-iisip at nagugutom. Nakukulong pa nga. Naaakusahan pang mga magnana kawkaw pa minsan. Kailangan din ang suporta ng taga Embassy, kundi man physically, emotionally o spiritually man lang.

Tumatanda rin ang OFW –

Sa mga nakausap at nakita ko, marami ang panot at kalbo na. Most of them have signs and symptoms of hypertension, coronary artery disease and arthritis. Yet, they continue to work thinking about the family they left behind. Marami ang nasa abroad, 20-30 years na, pero wala pa ring ipon. Kahit anong pakahirap, sablay pa rin. Masakit pa kung olats rin ang sinusuportahang pamilya ? ang anak adik o nabuntis; ang asawa may kabit. Naalala ko tuloy ang sikat na kanta dati, “NAPAKASAKIT  KUYA EDDIE!”

Bayani ang OFW ?

Totoo yun! Ngayon ko lang na na-realize na bayani ang OFW sa maraming bagay. Hindi bayani na tulad ni Nora Aunor o Flor Contemplacion. Bayani in the truest sense of the word. Hindi katulad ni Rizal o Bonifacio. Mas higit pa dun, mas maraming giyera at gulo ang pinapasok ng OFW para lang mabuhay. Mas maraming pulitika ang kailangang suungin para lang tumagal sa trabaho lalo na’t kupal ang mga kasama sa trabaho. Mas mahaba ang pasensya kaysa sa mga ordinaryong Tongresista o  Sinador sa Pilipinas dahil sa takot na mawalan ng trabaho at lalo na po, dahil sa pasado kami sa psychotest.

Matindi ang OFW ?

Matindi ang Pinoy. Lalo na daw ang mga Naija Pinoy. Matindi pa sa daga, o cockroaches  which survived the cataclysmic evolution. Alang sinabi iyang Malarya, ang Kidnapping, Armed Robber sa Inay Gyera, Armed Robbers sa Eh May Grasya NAIA. Sisiw lang mga iyan. Maraming sakripisyo pero walang makitang tangible solutions or consequences na ginagawa ang OWWA/POEA/DOLE at DFA.

Malas ng OFW, swerte ng pulitiko ?

Lalo na si Money Bilyar. Hindi umuupo ang OFW para magbigay ng autograph o interbyuhin ng media (unless nakidnap!). Madalas nasa sidelines lang ang OFW. Kapag umaalis, malungkot and on the verge of tears. Kapag dumadating, swerte ‘pag may sundo( madalas meron). Kapag naubos na ang ipon, wala ng kamag-anak.

Sana sikat ang OFW para may boses sa Kamara. Ang swerte ng mga politiko nakaupo sila at ginagastusan ng pera ng Filipino. Hindi nga sila naiinitan o napapaso ng langis, o napagagalitan ng amo, o kumakain ng paksiw para makatipid, o nakatira sa compound with conditions less than favorable, o nakikisama sa ibang lahi para mabuhay. Ang swerte, sobrang  swerte nila.

Matatag ang OFW ?

Matatag ang OFW, mas matatag pa sa sundalo ni Hingalo Reyes o kung ano pang grupo na alam nyo. Magaling sa reverse psychology, negotiations at counter-attacks. Tatagal ba ang OFW? Tatagal pa kasi hindi pa natin alam kailan magbabago ang Philippines , kailan nga kaya? o may tsansa pa ba? Paano na iyan Ate Galo, magsalita ka naman, “Hindi na akow kakandi datung, mandada yaak!!!, magna naku!!! Ahh ewan, basta “I Am Sorry” pero di Worry.

Masarap isipin na kasama mo ang pamilya mo araw-araw. Nakikita mo mga anak mong lumalaki at naaalagaan ng maayos. Masarap kumain ng sitaw, ng bagoong, lechon, inihaw na isda, taba ng talangka. Masarap manood ng pelikulang Pinoy, luma man o bago. Iba pa rin ang pakiramdam kung kilala mo ang kapitbahay mo. Iba pa rin sa Philippines, iba pa rin kapag Pinoy  ang kasama mo (except ‘pag kupal at utak-talangka), iba pa rin ‘pag nagkukwento ka at naiintindihan ng iba ang sinasabi mo. Iba pa rin ang tunog ng “mahal kita!”, “day, ginahigugma tika.” “Mingaw na ko nimo ba,  kalagot!”, ” Inday, diin ka na subong haw? ganahan guid ko simo ba”. Iba pa rin talaga.

Kaya Ang Hinayupak Na Travel Ban Na Yan….Alisin Na!!!

Sige lang, tiis lang, saan ba’t darating din ang pag-asa.

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Mula sa panulat nina Kuya Fred Borbon at Kapatid na Carlo Magno

(siempre, may pahintulot)

Jan 24, 2009