MANILA, Philippines - Four senatorial candidates pledged yesterday to promote a seven-point covenant upholding the rights and welfare of migrant workers in an apparent move to get the support of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Senate bets Vicente Sotto III of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Liza Maza of the Nacionalista Party, Gwen Pimentel also of NP, and Apolinario Lozada of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino signed a covenant in Quezon City to protect OFWs.
Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairman, said it is significant that the senatorial bets have committed to help migrant workers who were ignored by the Arroyo administration.
Lozada, a former congressman and author of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act, said more laws are needed to improve the condition of migrant workers.
Sotto, a former senator and former chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board, said that he would provide legal assistance and promote awareness about the danger of international drug trafficking syndicates that use workers as drug couriers.
Sotto also promised to provide legal protection for imprisoned Filipinos and to save the lives of those on death row.
Pimentel said she would create a clear government program for the children of migrant workers.
Martinez said the senatorial bets were united in promoting the generation of jobs in the country to prevent workers from going abroad.
“To solve the problems of the OFW, the government should provide jobs locally, provide the workers with sustainable salaries and wages and encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship so they don’t have to go abroad,” said Martinez.
Martinez said the more than half a million OFWs all over the world have suffered so much under President Arroyo’s anti-migrant worker policies.
“We welcome with open arms those who recognize that these policies are the root of most of our problems and are one with us in finding solutions,” said Martinez in a statement.
Martinez said the senatorial candidates who signed the covenant vowed to hold Mrs. Arroyo accountable for the alleged “plunder of the Overseas Workers Welfare Fund (OWWF)” and “punish the most notorious, abusive and erring government officials in the criminal neglect of Filipino workers.”
The covenant seeks to repeal the unjust and exploitative policy of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, review bilateral agreements with host countries that run contrary to laws that protect migrant and women’s rights.
The covenant also vows to give more teeth to existing laws and their enforcement against illegal recruiters, illegal trafficking and exploitation of women and minors.
Migrante hopes that the signing of the covenant would foster understanding, cooperation and partnership with the senatorial candidates even after the elections.
Former labor undersecretary and NP senatorial candidate Susan Ople said Filipino workers can now save more money for their families back home with the abolition of the documentary stamp tax (DST) on all dollar remittances.
Ople said OFWs can expect some P1.3 billion in extra savings with the implementation of the new Migrant Workers Act.
“The scrapping of the DST on remittances as provided under the new Migrant Workers Act is timely, and should help the beneficiaries here of migrant Filipino workers recover some of the buying power lost due to the recent surge of the peso against the dollar,” Ople said.
Meantime, the Commission on Elections said over 25,000 Filipinos abroad cast their ballots during the first week of the overseas absentee voting (OAV). – With Mayen Jaymalin, Helen Flores