Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 37 October 19 - 25, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
MIGRANT WATCHMigrante Says DoLE, OWWA Officials Guilty of ‘High-level Corruption'A migrant’s party-list group demanded a “comprehensive
investigation” of top labor officials allegedly involved in “long-running
corruption” and the neglect of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) raped and
jailed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
By
Aubrey SC Makilan Corruption scandalsThe spokesperson of the Migrante Sectoral
Party (MSP) charged during a rally last Oct. 9 outside the office of the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) that the “Macapagal-Arroyo
administration’s greed for migrant workers’ welfare funds is part of the
double-whammy corruption plaguing migrant workers and their families.” According
to John Monterona, a “comprehensive investigation” should be conducted on at
least four corruption scandals which involved OWWA officials this year alone. caption Monterano said the first scandal occurred in
February when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order (EO) 182
allegedly “aimed to illegally transfer the P4-billion OFW Medicare Fund to
PhilHealth, a cash-strapped government entity with a private-commercial mode of
operations.” He
revealed that EO 182 is being “re-worked” by presidential appointees Labor
Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, OWWA Adminstrator Virgilio Angelo and PhilHealth
CEO Francisco Duque after migrant organizations criticized the move as
anomalous. The
second scandal, Monterano said, linked Sto. Tomas’ and Angelo’s names to the
fake Medicare claims in OWWA amounting to P50 million. The
third is the alleged ghost evacuation of Filipinos in the Middle East during the
US-Iraq war that reportedly cost the country US$253,500. Monterano held liable
Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT). “We view these moves to illegally suspend
welfare programs and transfer billions of pesos of migrant workers’ funds to
different agencies for easy access to those who aim to perpetuate themselves in
power,” he said. We will not permit the current administration to take away
our funds and welfare programs for the benefit of their campaign machinery in
next year’s elections. E-card deceptionOn
Oct. 12, more than 200 E-card applicants at the Philippine Consulate in Hong
Kong denounced the reported “deception” of no less than Macapagal-Arroyo. MSP-Hong
Kong chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado said that OWWA personnel issued forms to
OFWs without informing them that they were actually for the HK$200 (US$25) OWWA
contribution which the Philippine government has been seeking to implement. OWWA
Welfare Officer Pat Bergado told them that the E-card is issued only to
“qualified OFWs” and that they have to pay the US$25 OWWA fee first. Regalado
argued all OFWs should be considered qualified since they have
Consulate-authenticated contracts and that the president herself announced the
E-card to be free of charge. “Thus,
in Hong Kong, where the contribution is ‘voluntary,’ we are being
blackmailed to pay and take away what we won in 1996,” Regalado said. OWWA
contribution was made voluntary in Hong Kong after OFWs fought for it in 1996,
making them OWWA members with or without paying for it. The applicants, upon learning its purpose, tore up the forms and demanded for their free E-cards. The Consulate then called on the Hong Kong police to face the agitated applicants. Regalado
condemned the incident, describing it as a “disrespect to the rights of
Filipino nationals to air their grievances to Philippine authorities.” The
letter contained their demands on what they called “most urgent issues.” The
issues were:
“Martial law”The
Hong Kong OFWs also denounced the Philippine Consulate General’s (PCG)
proposal to ban protests around its premises. They
compared the plan, which came out in a Filipino newspaper in Hong Kong, with
martial rule, allegedly aimed to suppress their assertion of their right to
government services while opposing “various other anomalies hounding the OWWA.” MSP-Hong
Kong learned that the proposal was related to the Oct. 12 incident, which they
said was neither a “protest” nor was it “rowdy.” “Criminal
neglect of duty” MSP
described as “OWWA’s criminal neglect of duty” OWWA’s failure to attend
to Grace’s (not her real name) case. Grace
is an Ifugao reportedly abducted and raped by Emirati Khalifa Hassan Khalifa on
May 16. After 10 days in the hospital, she was sentenced by the Dubai
Misdemeanor Court to two months imprisonment and deportation for intoxication
and adultery charges, while Khalifa was freed on bail on Sept. 11. Monterona said that the Sept. 6 report submitted by Welfare Officer Betty Walkington from Dubai to Angelo and the Grace’s testimony did not match. “In
the pursuit of justice and the immediate release of Grace, heads must roll in
the OWWA, DFA and DOLE,” Monterona said. Migrante
also revealed that the DFA did not even inform UAE diplomatic officials of the
case and its intent to actively pursue justice for Grace in a dialogue with UAE
Embassy Counsellor Sharif Altayeb in Makati City. Migrante
has been helping in the repatriation of both living and dead migrant workers,
aside from attending to cases of contract substitutions and violations. Despite these alarming statistics, Migrante said that the government still wants them to “stay abroad.” Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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