PRESIDENT Arroyo ordered the "relaxing" of
requirements for the direct hiring of white-collar workers for
overseas jobs to ensure the faster processing of their papers,
employment and eventual departure.
Arroyo, during the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA)-Cabinet Group meeting in Malacañang,
ordered Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to revise Memorandum
Circular No. 04 whose new rules on direct hiring has already
raised an angry howl among overseas workers' groups.
Arroyo's order came on the heels of Brion's
announcement last Feb. 8 that the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) board which he heads is considering
exempting Canada, Hong Kong and Italy from MC No. 4 based on
favorable reports from labor attaches on available protection
for OFWs there.
The new direct hiring rules under MC No. 4
allow only members of the diplomatic corps, international
organizations and government officials at the ministerial level
to directly hire and bring workers abroad to work. The party
directly hiring the worker is also required to post a $5,000
repatriation bond and a $3,000 performance bond.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the
relaxation of requirements would exempt from MC No. 4 OFWs being
hired as professionals for white-collar jobs or for "executive
positions of top gear corporations and institutions." He said
this means such OFWs can forgo certain requirements like going
through a recruitment agency or registering first with the POEA.
"The requirements that are normally
undertaken to protect our OFWs from exploitation should not
apply to these white collar workers and the distinction is very
obvious," Bunye said, adding that President Arroyo felt that
professionals and white-collars are more capable of protecting
themselves from being exploited when taking on overseas
postings.
"The objective of the POEA is primarily to
protect our workers from exploitation. But if additional
requirements for registering can impede the professionals who
are very clearly, I don't think they're prone to abuse or prone
to exploitation, perhaps we can waive the requirements or
registration to this kind of OFWs," Bunye said.
Already, however, a new group recently formed
by overseas Filipino workers, the Samahan Laban sa Katiwalian ng
mga Recruitment Agencies at Patakarang MC-04 (SKRAP-MC04) has
led more than 1,000 Filipino domestic helpers and professionals
in street protests in Hong Kong.
Coalition spokesperson Dolores Balladares
said POEA's decision to grant exemptions to some countries was
simply "a ploy to diffuse protests and to divide and deceive
OFWs." She said the protests will not stop until POEA withdraws
MC No. 4.
John Monterona, regional coordinator of
Migrante International's Middle East chapter, also scored the
POEA for government's continued failure to bring home OFWs
stranded in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Monterona said that in Jeddah alone, about a
hundred OFWs are living under a bridge while waiting to be
repatriated.
In the same meeting at the Palace, President Arroyo also
directed the POEA to use the Social Security System card as
identification cards for OFWs instead of the Equitable Bank
card; DOLE to look at the mental exams given to departing OFWs
with the view of minimizing and eventually eliminating the
deployment of mentally unstable workers abroad; and Manila
International Airport Authority president Alfonso Cusi to make
sure that proper courtesies are extended to all passengers,
especially OFWs, by all airport personnel. - Jocelyn D.
Montemayor and Anthony Ian Cruz
