A Bill of Rights for OFWs

They are called the unsung heroes of our Philippine Republic. They are the engines of our economic survival and prosperity. They are the Filipino men and women who left their families, their friends and their motherland to work in foreign lands and provide for their hungry children and hoping to have a house of their own.

These are the overseas workers, most of which are domestic workers in Asia, Europe and predominantly the Middle East. For merely $400 a month, these workers have been exposed to isolation and loneliness away from their loved ones and mistreatment and abuse from some employers. They are preyed upon by unscrupulous placement agencies where they pay an exorbitant placement fee only to be placed in an inhuman working environment.

We have countless stories of domestic workers being brutally murdered by their foreign employers. There have been a significant number of Filipino women sexually abused and some became victims to human trafficking. With their passports immediately confiscated by employers upon arrival, domestic workers have been prevented from leaving. There are countless women workers who would like to go back home but unable to do so due to prevailing foreign laws favoring the employer or due to lack of funds.

It is time that we put an end to this social injustice. It is time for our people to demand that our government take aggressive measures to protect our domestic workers. We need to create a “Bill of Rights” for our OFWs. We need to guarantee that every OFW has access to help and protection from an abusive environment.

As a bold initiative to support our OFWs, I suggest that our government take these necessary measures:

(1) Dismantle all our current private placement agencies. Instead create a central placement agency to be under the supervision of our Overseas Commission in coordination with the Department of Labor & Employment. This move will free us from unscrupulous entrepreneurs and simplify accountability of the governing agency.

(2) Enable our OFWs to keep their passports so that they can go back to the Philippines if they are in immediate danger.

(3) Consulate should have sufficient tracking database of OFWs being employed including their place of employment and file on their employer. Every six months, Consulate should hold general meetings with the domestic workers to asses their status and address their concerns.

The time to act is now. We need our unsung heroes to be safe and come home not battered and abused but filled with hope that they are not alone in achieving the Filipino dream.