900 Filipino workers flee jobs in Taiwan

At least 900 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have run away from their employers in Taiwan. Most of them were directly or illegally hired and came to the capital assuming a different identity.

OFWs complained of a language barrier, employer abuse and not being paid, said Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) Chairman Antonio Basilio. Many of them have endured abuse for fear of deportation.

"Less than one per cent of the total population of OFWs ran away from their bosses," said Basilio.

While waiting for their papers to be processed and their repatriation to the Philippines, the OFWS are staying at the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration Centre located near the Meco, the country's adhoc consular office.

The Philippine government has adopted a one-China policy and does not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Most domestic helpers receive an average of $294 (P15,000) as salary. Owing to Taiwan's sliding economy, the number of OFWs went down from 120,000 to 90,000. Four thousand of them are maids and the rest work in factories.

Meanwhile, Senator Aquilino Pimentel called for more aggressive training for OFWs. The country's export of Filipino domestic helpers has been threatened by Indonesia's policy to send out well-trained and better behaved domestic helpers.

"The government should have a new policy on training OFWs. The labour department should address the emerging skill req-uirements for workers abroad," said Pimentel, adding: "The Philippine government should also expand its OFW market and inspire the private sector to be more aggressive in looking for quality placements for professional OFWs."

The sharp decline of dollar remittances from OFWs for the past three years could be traced to the increasing competitiveness of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong, said Pimentel.

For the first 10 months of 2001, OFWs sent home $4.84 billion, 5 per cent lower than the $5.1 billion they remitted during the same period in 2000. The 2000 figure is 13 per cent lower than the $5.87 billion sent home by OFWs during the same period in 1999, Central Bank records showed.

The Philippines' 83 per cent share in the Hong Kong market for domestic helpers in 1997 slipped to 71 per cent in 2000. Indonesian workers grew by 345 per cent in seven years, according to the records of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters.

Indonesia has provided intensive training programmes to its workers, resulting in their increasing presence in Hong Kong, sources said.

Labour Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas expressed optimism that a lower regional trial court will soon allow the labour department to implement its proposed capital hike as a requirement in accrediting recruiters of OFWS.

"The labour department wanted the new rules implemented in February. The court's ruling will delay us by 20 more days. This will give us a chance to articulate our final position. I am confident that the court will rule in our favour," Sto. Tomas said.

Judge Jose Paneda of Quezon City Regional Trial Court (branch 220) granted on Thursday the petition of the Asian Recruitment Council of the Philippines Chapter Inc. (Arcophil) to stop the labour department from requiring recruiters to have higher capital from $19,607 to $39,250.

The judge said the labour department should uphold the Migrant Workers Act and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 which called for deregulation of recruitment activities.

Recruiters complained that the labour department's proposed capital hike are "anti-small enterprise".

The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) drafted the new rules because 70 per cent of the complaints they have received from overseas workers are recruiter-related.

Deregulation is not equivalent to doing away with the rules, but a way to cut down on bureaucratic red tape, said Sto. Tomas, adding: "The court's recent ruling will leave the OFWS at the mercy of the recruiters."