OFW women ‘held hostage’ – candidates, netizens, advocates

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OFW women ‘held hostage’ – candidates, netizens, advocates
Women overseas Filipino workers are vulnerable to abuse. Candidates, netizens, and advocates propose ways to better protect them.

MANILA, Philippines – Women overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are vulnerable to abuse. What can we do to better protect them?

In line with the International Women’s Month and the 2016 elections, Rappler held a Twitter conversation on women OFWs and abuse on Saturday, March 13, at 8pm Manila time.

Advocates of migrant rights, OFWs, netizens, and some 2016 senatorial candidates joined the online discussion to share their thoughts on the issue. Here are what they had to say: 

OFW women and the problems they face

According to government data, majority of OFWs from 1981 to 2014 are women. There are 67 men for every 100 women OFWs. 

“Filipina workers are not just workers. They are family to every household. They offer love, care, and patience,” wrote netizen James Castro Linao.

 

Women OFWs, however, remain vulnerable to abuse and discrimination. (READ: ‘‘Abused’ OFW in Saudi Arabia dies – migrants’ group‘ )

“Women OFWs are victimized even before they leave the Philippines. Contract substitution, debts, make them more at risk once deployed,” wrote Jerome Alcantara.

According Migrante International, abuse against women OFWs range from “sexual, cultural to labor abuses.”

Senatorial candidate Martin Romualdez said that OFWs are “held hostage” and that their “fear for their personal safety is overrun by fear of losing their jobs.”

 

What can we do?

Government services and support, however, are lacking, according to some of the conversation’s participants.

“OFWs keep the economy afloat yet they are very prone to maltreatment and abuse, w/o the gov’t protecting them,” wrote netizen Anjo Dimacali. “Distressed OFWs sila abroad, distressed pa rin sila pagbalik sa ‘Pinas! (They are still distressed when then return to the Philippines!)”

For netizen Kaye Cabal, there are enough programs by the government for OFWs, but the problem is implementation.


Migrante International echoed that the problems are “implementation, political will and lack of comprehensive reforms.”

According to senatorial candidate Neri Colmenaries, OFW welfare should be a national concern because of the amount of remittances that these workers send. The problem, however, is that there are “no commensurate welfare services from the government.” (READ: ‘OFW remittances rise to $2.2B in January 2016‘ )


 

The latest report from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas shows that personal remittances by overseas Filipinos grew by 3.2% year-on-year in January 2016 to reach $2.2 billion. More than three-fourths of this came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Japan. (READ: ‘Which countries sent the most OFW remittances?‘ )

To demonstrate government ineptitude, Colmenares brought up the case of Mary Jane Veloso, an OFW on death row in Indonesia who received a last-minute reprieve from the Indonesian government.

“5 years of government neglect to promptly provide legal services brought Mary Jane to the brink of execution,” wrote Colmenares.

Meanwhile, Romualdez emphasized the need for better legal support for OFWs, and proposed forming an agency dedicated to it. “I propose an agency/office similar to our PAO here at home dedicated to OFWs, trained specially in OFW cases,” he wrote. 

Senatorial candidate Susan Ople also proposed the streamlining of government agencies and services for OFWs.

 


 

Romualdez and Ople also emphasized the need for better Internet connection. “In line with this, PH needs to improve on its Internet connectivity bcoz communication is vital to our OFWs,” wrote Romualdez. 

 


Am also pushing for a Bill of Rights for Internet Subscribers. Full disclosure dapat re speed, reliability of service,” tweeted Ople.

The need to discourage Filipinos from leaving to work abroad was also emphasized in the conversation.

#WhatOFWsWant is a Philippines that they can come home to, that they won’t have to leave just to survive,” said Migrante International. 



Netizen and OFW rights advocate John Monterona also said that “ending forced migration” should be discussed in the next presidential debates, while Gelo Carter said that we need to create more jobs, increase basic pay, and lower prices of goods to discourage Filipinos from leaving the country. 

Senatorial candidates also shared their thoughts on how to solve forced migration:

 




Reach

According to Reach, Rappler’s analytics tool, the two-hour conversation made more than 108,000 online impressions – number of people who saw the tweets – and generated more than 800 tweets from 200 unique authors.

What are your thoughts on women OFWs and abuse? What other OFW issues should candidates talk about? Who is the leader that can solve them? What can we do as citizens? Share in the comments or write on X! – Rappler.com

This conversation is part of Rappler’s #PHVote campaign for a more informed electorate. Get comprehensive election news and candidate backgrounds here and take action with our #PHVote Challenge here.

 

 

 

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