[asia-apec 1003] Illegal Placement Fees

[BAYAN]

Forwarded by: BAYAN <bayan at iname.com>
From: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos <apmmf at HK.Super.NET>


Philippine Labor Attache Admits Philippine Government 
Has Failed to Stop Collection of Illegal Placement Fees

Admitting that the Philippine government has failed to stop collection of
illegal fees from placement agencies and brokers, Philippine Labor Attache
to Kaoshuing, Taiwan George Eduvela asked church NGO's working for migrant
workers if they are amenable to raising the placement fees in Taiwan to a
reasonable level. In effect, Eduvela is asking the church NGO's to stamp
their approval on government's kowtowing to the demands of  unscrupulous
businessmen and legalize their plundering of would-be and deployed overseas
Filipino workers in Taiwan. 

This suggestion was aired during a dialogue between the Manila Economic
and Cultural Office (MECO), the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) and church NGO's on the night of September 15 at the
MECO office in Taipei.

In reaction to the proposal, Fr. Peter O'Neill of the Hope Workers Center
argued that raising the placement fee to a "reasonable level" will not
guarantee that the brokers will not ask for more. He cited the case of the
Thai workers in Taiwan whose government has allegedly agreed with the
brokers that each worker should pay $NT56,000.00 plus $NT1,000.00 a month
for three years for a total of $NT92,000.00. Fr. O'Neill added that his
Center has found out that some Thai workers have paid much higher with some
paying as high as $NT200,000.00.

In addition, one NGO worker pointed out that even the Overseas
Employment/Travel Advisory of the Philippine Overseas Employment
Agency(POEA) which featured the Taiwan Labor Market in May 1996 admitted
that "the level of prevailing fees being charged workers bound for that
country is however much more than the prescribed rates reaching up to
P70,000.00." To this, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), Director
General Edicio de la Torre, who was the guest speaker at the dialogue, lamely
commented that the government has a policy of full disclosure and selective
deployment. In effect, he is saying that it is not the government's but the
overseas workers' fault if he or she agrees to pay the illegal fees.

This kind of argument is also reflected in two contentious issues which the
MECO is negotiating with its Taiwanese counterparts regarding passports
kept by employers and forced savings imposed by employers on migrant
workers as a deterent for the latter's running away. Initially, MECO is
proposing that passports and forced savings should only be allowed with a
migrant's consent shown by a signed contract. To this, Sr. Ascension Lim of
Rerum Novarum explained that in practice Filipino workers have practically
no choice but to agree with their employers to keep their passports. 

The Philippine government officials are surrendering their responsibility
to protect the migrant workers as evidenced in these two issues. When a
migrant worker has no choice but to agree to both unjust practices in pain
of being terminated, it is convenient for the Philippine government to
blame him or her later on for having agreed to such unjust agreements. 

It all ends up to economics. Jose Aspiras, the new MECO managing director,
stated that the Taiwanese employers need Filipino workers and the Philippine
government needs the dollar remittances of the workers in order to prop up the
economy. In the end, though, who needs the migrant workers more? Added to
this is the fact that Taiwan is the fourth largest trading partner of and
fifth largest investor in the Philippines. 


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Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF)
Address: No.4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. no.: (852) 2723-7536
Fax no.: (852) 2735-4559
E-mail: apmmf at hk.super.net
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