Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Bagong Bayani - New Heroes

10 percent of the total Filipino population is either working or living outside the Philippines where 33 percent live under the poverty line, 17.4 percent of youth are unemployed, and 42 percent experience vulnerable and under-employment so the impetus to migrate for a better job and a better life remains strong. 4,000 workers leave the Philippines each day, state-sponsored migration has proven quite lucrative for the Philippine state and remittances remain a catalyst of economic growth. The Central Bank of the Philippines reported that total remittances received from Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) through official banking channels reached an all-time high of $18.7bn in 2010, roughly 10 percent of the country’s GDP.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong are the top three destinations of newly deployed Filipino labour migrants. Many jobs in Hong Kong and Singapore are described as tickets to Canada, Australia and Europe, as workers find it easier to receive a contract in countries with lower salaries for a few years before attempting to land a job in countries that offer better pay. Women constitute the majority of newly hired OFWs, with more than half of Filipina migrants working as household service workers or performing other "3-D" (dirty, difficult and dangerous) jobs.

Migrant workers enter receiving countries as non-citizens, performing work that is largely considered unskilled. Those with precarious "visitor" status are compelled to endure exploitative working conditions under the threat of deportation or sudden contractual termination. Filipinos, along with other migrant workers, are often the first to lose to their jobs in times of economic instability and are rarely afforded the opportunity to attain higher-status jobs. Many migrants pay unusually high recruitment fees or engage in labour that was not described in their contract, and some even endure slave-like conditions. Some are reluctant to report cases of malpractice, as they are afraid of losing their jobs and the prospect of returning home without repaying their debts. Recruiters market workers as submissive and industrious. Domestic workers abroad are especially at risk of isolation, sexual assault and abuse as their ability to work is tied to their employer, whom they are often required to live with.  An owner of a Filipino-run agency based in Hong Kong said of a potential domestic worker: "She is so desperate to leave the Philippines… as long as she has a place to sleep, if she’s already there you can do whatever you want… in other words, you are the boss."

 Ultimately, migrants and the Philippine state lack the fundamental ability to hold foreign employers and labour brokers accountable, as the state has no jurisdiction abroad. For migrants, the lack of jurisdiction in foreign countries is compounded by a largely unfair, ineffective, and unreliable domestic legal system. According to Hong Kong law, migrant workers must find a new employment contract within two weeks, or else they must leave. This is often not enough time to file and follow up with a legal complaint if the fault of termination lies with an employer or agency.

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