Migrant workers to stage protest actions

MANILA, Philippines - Migrant workers will stage protest actions on Thursday to demand more action on the plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in strife torn regions in the Middle East and Libya.

Migrante International chair Garry Martinez said the mass action would be timed with the 16th death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, the Filipina domestic helper hanged in Singapore for murdering fellow Filipina maid Delia Maga and the latter’s four-year-old Singaporean ward Nicholas Huang.

Martinez said Contemplacion is a reflection of OFWs forced to work abroad for better employment opportunities and who have received little or no protection from the Philippine government.

“With what has been happening in the Middle East, our government is not doing enough to help our OFWs there. Many of them are still in Libya, waiting to be repatriated and those who came home are waiting for the government’s support so they can get back on their feet. And now we have Japan (devastated by earthquake and tsunami),” he added.

On Thursday, migrant workers and their families and supporters will march from Morayta in España, Manila to the Mendiola bridge to dramatize their demands.

Martinez said that based on the information from the repatriated OFWs, many of their colleagues want to come home but are still waiting for Philippine authorities to repatriate them.

“There may be some who opted to stay there but there are more people who want to be repatriated already. The government should do something about this,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon said some 14,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have already been taken out of Libya.

But of this figure, only around 8,200 OFWs have actually been brought home.

“We have already repatriated some 8,200 workers. There are groups that are arriving tomorrow. We have workers in Tunisia and Malta but they are already booked on commercial flights,” she said over radio dzRH.

Many of those who are still in Libya have opted to stay behind, probably thinking that the situation would improve.

She said authorities were exercising caution as some of the OFWs have expressed desire to be left in the stopover countries. “We don’t want them to add up to the undocumented residents in those countries.”

Dimzon conceded that initially, there were hitches in the repatriation efforts because of the urgency of the situation in Libya. But she said things eventually went smoothly.