Dubai activist criticises Arroyo visit

A Dubai-based Filipino activist criticised visiting Philippine president Gloria Arroyo for peddling cheap Philippine labour, instead of closing bilateral agreements that would benefit thousands of expatriate Filipinos.

Nhel Morona, general secretary of the group Migrante, claimed that the Filipino leader, who flew in from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, sugar-coated the intention of her Dubai whistle-stop by saying she intends to lure Gulf businessmen to invest in the Philippines.

“We warn Emirati traders not to be duped by Arroyo's tall ambition of luring you to invest in the Philippines," Morona said in a statement obtained by XPRESS.

The Philippine president in an earlier interview in Davos said her trip would be aimed at opening up several economic agreements with traders in the Gulf state.

"Because Dubai is a financial capital, several of the businessmen around the Gulf also made appointments to see me. So I am going to have like an extension of Davos (economic meeting) there," Arroyo said.

Morona further claimed that Arroyo has no concern for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as she did nothing to ease up the debilitating effect of the rising power of the Philippine peso against the US dollar.

The strong peso has eroded foreign workers' dollar remittances by 20 per cent.

“If she is keen on helping us, why won't she press for the host government to sign and lobby other friendly governments to approve the United Nations Covenant to Protect Migrant Workers and their Families?" Morona said.

Morona said that Arroyo's visit should be used to convince Gulf states hosting Filipino workers to develop a mechanism to punish employers who exploit workers through contract substitution, long working hours and non-payment of salaries, among other forms of abuses.