Legarda calls on IPU to protect migrant workers

GENEVA - Philippine Senator Loren Legarda urged Thursday members of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) to take stronger action for the protection of migrant workers and the eradication of trafficking in persons through the passage of effective legislation in their respective countries.

Loren said that the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers is a grave concern in the Philippines because millions of Filipinos are presently employed abroad, and many fall victims to exploitation.

She lamented never-ending reports of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) being abused, including some who suffer from sexual exploitation, even in countries that recognize international conventions on the protection of workers.

Loren told fellow parliamentarians that they can give teeth to such agreements like the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 97 and No. 143 by passing laws that would flesh out their provisions in the field of law enforcement, justice and the protection of aggrieved parties.

On the matter of trafficking of persons, Loren said that the exploitation of Filipino migrant workers, who remit to the Philippines up to $12 billion a year, is almost always tied to human trafficking by illegal recruiters who are in cahoots with rogue employers.

"While there is an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act already enacted in the Philippines three years ago, there is still an increasing number of cases of women and children recruited or transported across national borders for the purpose of exploitation" she said.

"There will only be trafficked persons if there are traffickers. A study conducted by Chris de Stoop reveals that trafficking in Europe most often involved Asian women. There is thus a need for stronger and more vigilant coordination among parliaments to stop this social malaise."

She stressed that it is not enough to pass laws since they would be useless unless dutifully implemented.

For this reason, she said Filipino lawmakers exercise their oversight functions through the conduct of public hearings. The hearings, she said, are in aid of legislation, and are done so remedial measures can be passed.