Estrada vows to help distressed expatriate Filipinos

Jose “Jinggoy'' Estrada, Philippine Senate President Pro Tempore, who is on a three-day visit to the UAE, promised to fight for a bigger budget for the Philippine Overseas Labour Offices (POLO) to enable them to attend to the needs of distressed expatriate Filipino workers.

“Our labour office is really doing its best for our workers, but the POLO is operating on a limited budget and limited manpower. The best that I can do at the moment is to help raise funds for the workers' shelter and to fight for a bigger allocation when Congress deliberates on the national budget,'' Estrada told XPRESS in an exclusive interview.

Estrada, who chairs the Committee on Labour, Employment and Human Resources Development of the Philippine Senate and the Joint Congressional Committee on Labour and Employment, is set to leave for Manila on Sunday together with 20 distressed workers.

Libran Cabactulan, the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE, said the senator initially wanted to bring with him home some 30 distressed workers, but the limited number of available airline seats prompted them to scale the number down to 20.

On Thursday, the senator met with Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash, the UAE Minister of Labour, at the Labour Ministry's office in Dubai and discussed ways to harmonise the laws, rules and regulations governing the deployment and employment of Filipino workers. Estrada also invited the Saeed Gobash to visit the Philippines.

The following day, Estrada visited distressed Filipino workers who sought shelter at the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Deira which also serves as a halfway house for “runaways'' or those workers – mostly household servants -- who escaped from their abusive employers.

“Most of our wards had worked as domestic helpers, while some were forced by their sponsors to work as prostitutes,'' said Virgnia Calvez, the Philippine Labour Attaché in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

Calvez refused to divulge the exact number of “runaways'' presently housed at the POLO, but an XPRESS source said there are over 60, while about 70 are have sought sanctuary in the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Records at the Philipppine Overseas Employment Administration in Manila said there are 167,264 documented Filipino workers in Dubai, while 85,899 are in Abu Dhabi.
An official at the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai however, estimates the number of Filipinos residing in the UAE to be at 250,000.

Speaking before the workers, Estrada vowed to rally his colleagues in the senate to set aside their political differences and attend to the welfare of overseas Filipino workers.
“My visit here is an eye-opener. I've seen how our diplomats, consular officers and staff have been working hard to make the lives of our OFWs comfortable. I've heard many stories of abuse and maltreatment,'' said Estrada.

Estrada, who as an actor once portrayed an overseas worker in a movie, said he will be spearheading a campaign to raise funds to bankroll the repatriation of distressed workers.

He said the fund campaign will be for the benefit of the workers not only in Dubai but in other countries in the Middle East as well.

“No abused or maltreated worker will be left behind,'' he said.