PHILIPPINES - MIGRATION IN 1998

1998 marked a turnaround in government policy towards overseas employment. In response to public clamor for greater protection to migrant workers, the government enacted the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (also known as RA 8042) in 1996. Recognizing the greater vulnerability of unskilled workers to abuse and exploitation, RA 8042 provides for selective deployment, i.e., to deploy the less vulnerable skilled workers and to lessen and eventually phase out the deployment of unskilled workers. When the crisis struck, it became difficult to implement the policy, especially since the demand was for unskilled workers. At the February 2, 1998 National Conference on Employment, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) proposed that the government needs to reexamine its policy on overseas employment.

Despite the huge number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) throughout the world, the government has only allotted P100 million for the repatriation of Filipinos working in dangerous areas. The budget — which has been slashed because of the crisis — is basically for emergency purposes such as wars or calamities. Nonetheless, Secretary Domingo Siazon of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that they would help displaced Filipinos who cannot afford to pay their way home. The government’s advice to migrant workers was to encourage them to stay put and to explore other labor markets. The latter was pursued sometimes even if conditions were questionable. For example, in early 1998, DOLE asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to lift the travel advisory on "high risk" countries such as Algeria and Israel which were in need of foreign workers. DFA has clarified that travel to these countries was discouraged because of volatile conditions. Another indicator that the need to deploy workers may be more important than the safety of workers was the government’s decision to lift the ban on the sending of Filipino workers to the Philips Plant in Taiwan in June. Several Filipino workers have returned home with the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), the cause of which has not been determined. Initial investigations found the Philips Taiwan Chupei plant heavily polluted by the cancer-causing tetrachloroethylene. Of the 48 cases of SJS among Filipinos (July to December 1996), 42 were from the Philips electronic plants in Chupei and Dapon.

The actual scale of repatriation was not as massive as feared because Filipino workers are distributed in various regions of the world (although for the first time, Asia topped the destination of OFWs in 1997). Estimates of the OFW population in Asia are as follows: 25,000 in South Korea; 300,128 in Malaysia (500,000, according to another source); 143,651 in Hong Kong; 64,554 in Taiwan; 6,000 in Thailand; and 1,046 in Indonesia. Except for reports in January of Filipinos returning from Korea (at least 3,000 manufacturing workers) and Malaysia (2,000 professionals), in general, data on repatriation were difficult to come by. Some 94,400 Filipino workers in Asian countries may be displaced between the onset of the crisis and by the end of in 1999, which could lead to some return migration (Böhning, 1999). While most OFWs managed to keep their jobs during the crisis, there were signs that all was not well for OFWs. In Hong Kong, the proposal to reduce the wages of foreign domestic helpers (Filipinas comprise about 80 percent of 180,000 foreign domestic helpers) by 20 percent, from HK$3,860 to HK$3,088, drew protests.

The repatriation that did take place in 1998 had less to do with the economic crisis than with socio-political crises in other regions. There were at least three instances when the government had to brace for the emergency repatriation of Filipinos workers: the evacuation of Filipinos in Indonesia during the May violence, the crisis in Eritrea in June, and the evacuation of Filipinos in Baghdad during the US-British air raids against Iraq in December (a similar threat was raised in February). Although there were only 25 Filipinos in Baghdad, the tension raised much concern because of how it could affect the situation of almost a million Filipinos in the region (420,000 in Riyadh, 180,000 in Jeddah, 85,000 in Abu Dhabi, 55,000 in Kuwait, and some 25,000 in Tel Aviv).

Outgoing president, Fidel Ramos, and the new president, Joseph Estrada, acknowledged the contributions of migrants to the economy. Remittances of overseas Filipinos, as in crises past, have once again become the saving grace of the Philippine economy. In 1997, some US$5.7 billion poured into the country; in 1998, remittances amounted to US$7.5 billion. In return, OFWs will enjoy tax breaks beginning 1999 (nonresidents in general will only be taxed for income earned in the Philippines; in the past, they were taxed on their worldwide income), a year-round exemption from duties and taxes for electronic equipment, faster processing of travel papers through the newly set up one-stop documentation center. Also in the works are a hospital for OFWs and a proposal to provide health services to OFWs and their families.

The downside of overseas employment cannot also be ignored. According to the Consular Affairs Division of the DFA, there were 514 OFWs who died in 1998 (as of September), of which 47 were deaths under "mysterious circumstances." One such mysterious circumstance may have to do with organ trafficking where a victim, prior to departure, signs a consent form agreeing to a medical examination at the destination. A victim’s death is passed off as a suicide while vital body parts are taken out and sold in the market. There is also the matter of OFWs who are jail for various offenses. One issue that received some attention in the media pertained to the arrest of four Filipinos in Saudi Arabia for distributing the Bible and for preaching, crimes under Shariah law. This matter was one of the talking points in the first Philippine-Saudi Arabia Joint Committee Meeting scheduled in 1999.

There were various initiatives undertaken in the past year to deal with irregular migration into and from the country. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) launched a survey of irregular migrants in Mindanao, the results of which would be used in future bilateral talks with Malaysia and Indonesia on the repatriation of aliens. BI was also on the lookout for international fugitives (based on information from Interpol) who might be heading for Manila and other Asian cities. One scam somehow escaped the notice of authorities for some time. The "Dominion of Melchizedek," supposedly a pristine country in the South Pacific, set up office in a hotel in Olongapo City. Its officials offered citizenship as well as work permits — which victimized Filipinos, Bangladeshis and Chinese. The scam was uncovered when a Chinese irregular migrant who bought a passport used it to apply for a U.S. visa. Immigration authorities blacklisted 15 foreigners involved in the scam.

On the other hand, irregular migration from the country has taken on several forms: the recruitment of minors, the departure of "tourist workers", and the use of the e-mail for mail-order bride operations. There were also reports that some members of the Unification Church or Moonies are back in the country after they were indicted for illegal recruitment in April 1996. Following a mass wedding (983 couples) held in 1996, the group was suspected to have forced the women into domestic service or prostitution. In the U.S., authorities uncovered and arrested those involved in one of the largest visa-fraud cases ever. Recruits had to pay up to US$7,500 to their recruiters, who then paid the owner of a nursing home chain in Texas and Oklahoma about US$1,600, who then paid the nurses substandard wages. Some 500 Filipino nurses and several Koreans were smuggled into the U.S. in this manner.