RP eases policy on Japanese promoters

The Philippine government has suspended regulations restricting Japanese promoters from hiring Filipino entertainers in an apparent bid to promote the deployment of overseas performing artists (OPAs).

Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon has reportedly ordered labor officials to suspend the verification and authentication processes of the work contracts of OPAs, a local recruitment agency revealed yesterday.

The Philippine Association of Recruitment Agencies Deploying Artists (PARADA) said Siazon supposedly gave the order upon the request of Tokyo’s foreign ministry.

Japanese authorities claimed the verification and authentication system, which requires a promoter to pay a fee of 7,350 yen for every OPA recruited, was discriminatory since it was only being practiced in Japan.

However, PARADA noted this system was necessary to ensure the protection of Filipino entertainers there as the embassy verifies the eligibility of Japanese promoters.

The group further warned that the suspension of the policy could result in more Filipino entertainers being victimized by illegal recruitment, human trafficking and welfare violations.

"Without the benefit of verification and authentication, the OPAs will be at the mercy of unscrupulous Japanese clubs and promoters who will not be compelled to disclose the true nature of the OPAs’ employment and work site conditions," PARADA said in a statement.

Some 80,000 OPAs are deployed yearly to Japan. Many of them, though, fear their jobs could disappear since Tokyo began imposing stricter regulations on the hiring of overseas entertainers last month.

According to one organization of Filipino entertainers, the Philippine government has sabotaged their cause to fight Japan’s implementation of its new visa rules.

Says OPA Koalisyon, foreign affairs and labor officials have hurt them "socially and economically" by misrepresenting their cause in Tokyo during months of talks with Japanese officials.

"They sold us out to Japan," claim the OPAs.

The Philippine government has repeatedly tried but failed to persuade Japan to go easy in its implementation of revised immigration rules that aim to curb human trafficking. The law is seen to slash the deployment figures of OPAs to Japan, putting the livelihood of millions of Filipinos at risk.