Isang liham ang isinagawa ng The Migrants na ipinadala sa mga kinauukulan nuong December 1, 2011.
___________________________________________________________________________
Congressman Walden Bello,
Chair of the House Committee on Migrant Workers Affairs
Cc: POEA Administrator, Mr. Carlos Cao, Jr.
DFA Usec Esteban Conejos Jr.
Ms. Ellene Sana, Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines
December 1st , 2011
Your Excellencies,
SUBJECT: TOTAL LIFTING OF DEPLOYMENT BAN
Deployment ban, even how noble the intention of the government is, shall never be made at all because it is unconstitutional.
1. The ban usurps our right to depend on our total faith in God and not to man when it comes to our lives and security, the right to choose and the right to decide for ourselves, the right to livelihood, the right to travel and the right to be a part of nation-building is every Filipino’s fundamental rights.
2. Deployment ban aggravates the problem of high unemployment in the country when sufficient, sustainable and good employment opportunity is a big question mark.
3. Deployment ban induces further physiological and social sufferings to Filipinos who can not find job in the country, or can not meet the demands and basic needs of his extended families, thus pushing the poor Filipinos to the rigor of abject poverty, pushing him to revert to other means that is contrary to their spiritual belief and to the rule of laws.
4. Deployment ban only creates another door of corruption, or it becomes a strong tool for corruption that subjected unsuspecting Filipinos to further miseries. It can also afflict the “subject of the ban” to corruption adding grave risk to the aspiration of our government to pave a straight road and destroys the corrupt culture and mentality of many Filipinos.
5. Deployment ban galvanizes the bad reputation the country is known for as being “a country of corrupt people run by corrupt government officials” to international communities, and we OFWs are forced to wear the face of shame.
6. Deployment ban is and will never be an effective solution to keep poor Filipinos away from harms’ way even to a country perceived to be at “war-risk”, or when the peace and order is considered volatile. It only leads the subject of the deployment ban to succumb to playing the dirty game just to find a way of escaping the debacle of poverty.
7. Deployment ban is not a “hold order” tool governed by the rule of laws that gives total and absolute right to the men manning the gates of the country to ban and/or off-load OFWs.
8. Deployment ban bears more poor Filipinos borne out from Filipino couple who find no other source of getting worldly happiness but to copulate, thus adding more to an already populated country of poor & uneducated people.
To sum it up deployment ban kills the dreams and aspirations of many Filipinos whose best bet and hope rely heavily in landing a job abroad.
OUR CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE
1. Whilst the brief visit of Usec Esteban Conejos, Jr and the Rtd. General Roy Cimatu in 2008 & 2009 was to assess the peace and order in Nigeria, no one from our Philippine government is in a better position to assess the peace and order other than the Filipino Migrant Workers in Nigeria. Many OFWs here are still happily settled even after the passing of many years. For us, the Republic of Nigeria is a country of freedom, peace and love, hope and offer many blessings.
2. The imposition of total deployment ban to Nigeria in October 2006 was totally uncalled for and was unnecessary. The so-called security problem in the Niger Delta that exposed sea-based Filipino workers in the past years was a product of greed and corrupt practices and a political statement. Seafarers became a pawn to the political game in the country. On a more factual note gathered from affected Filipino sea-farers it even involved our own maritime company conniving with Greek Bulk Tanker owners to enrich themselves from “oil bunkering”. Truth hurts too much when you find out that it is the Filipino themselves that is subjecting his countryman to danger.
3. The imposition of total deployment ban also subjected OFWs in Nigeria to prolong separation from their family due to fear of losing their job, whilst others who braved the ban simply succumb to the whims and caprices of the ‘men at the gates. ‘
4. We are thankful to God for a wonderful emissary in the person of Ms. Ellene Sana of Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines, Justice Leila De Lima, then the former Human Rights Commissioner, and Mrs. Karen Dumpit Gomez of the same office, Through them we lobbied with the then Secretary Marianito Roque, then DOLE Secretary, and Usec Luzviminda Padilla, and with former POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili.
5. The deployment ban was partially lifted in 2009 through the brave decision of the then POEA Administrator, Ms. Jennifer Manalili, but it allowed only those OFWs who are considered as Balik-Mangagawa or Rehires.
POEA records of deployed land-based OFWs consisting of new hires and rehires shows as follows: 2,324 in 2006; 1,601 in 2007; 12 in 2008, 252 in 2009 and 1,426 in 2010. We believe OFWs in Nigeria are more than what POEA documented. During the last OAV registration the Philippine Embassy in Nigeria processed more than 2,200 OAVs considering the non-committal attitude of many Filipinos to practice their voting right. (Philippine Embassy Circular MIS 401 indicated the number of Filipinos as registered by the Nigerian Immigration Service as 8,000 in spite of the ban).
6. No great importance is given to the OFWs working in Nigeria and no honor is given to Nigeria because of miniscule dollar remittance showing in the records of POEA and Central Bank of the Philippines. In truth, our salary remittances are credited to either USA or Germany because it is dictated by choice of our respective employer.
7. However, the big question is why still impose a ban for prospective OFWs when there is probably no OWWA record of distressed land-based OFWs in Nigeria or could probably show only a case or two that was more a product of illegal recruiter that our government officials failed to combat. Why impose a ban when the ‘men at the gates’ are for sale? The bidding is very alarming. Three new recently OFWs who landed a job in Abuja paid their way from borrowed money. Two of them paid P35,000 and the other one is P60,000. Why the ban when it is not effective at all?
8. Unfortunately, Section 2 of RA 10022 is a burden to the POEA Governing Body and section 6 of RA 10022 is very limiting. We, the OFWs shall be consulted as well, thus we offer our unsolicited advice and to appeal on behalf of prospective OFWs to totally lift the deployment/travel ban, at least for land-based Filipino workers for which we speak on our behalf.
9. There are better and effective solutions to safeguard the interest of OFWs, Unfortunately, deployment ban is not one of them and it is unconstitutional. RA 10022 can work without resorting to deployment ban. All the RA 10022 needs is strict implementation of its noble purpose run by men of good virtues and wisdom, and we believe we have them in the POEA Governing Body, and we have them now in the new administration.
OUR PRAYERS
1. Thus, we desperately appeal to Your Excellencies to please uphold the fundamental rights of every Filipino by lifting deployment ban (partial or total) in all countries whether in compliance or not of Section 1 of RA 10022.
2. We appeal to totally lift the deployment/travel ban in Nigeria as the country is already DFA certified country being in compliance with the terms and conditions of Section 1 of RA 10022. Nowhere in the said Section or in the entirety of RA 10022 was it stated that “peace and order” issue is a pre-condition to deployment to foreign country.
3. We also appeal on behalf of our adopted country Nigeria to honor, appreciate and thank its people and her government for opening and sharing her bounty of love and blessings, instead of ridiculing the Republic of Nigeria as being “unsuitable for OFWs” because this is simply unfounded and truly uncalled for.
Therefore, we strongly appeal for the lifting of deployment/ travel ban in all countries. And we particularly appeal to POEA Governing Body to totally lift the deployment/ travel ban in Nigeria because the country is DFA certified in compliance to Section 1 of RA 10022.
Yours faithfully,
The FILIPINO MIGRANTS IN NIGERIA
