MANILA, Philippines – Many overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who complain to Philippine posts abroad about their employers often endure another abuse, this time from discourteous embassy and consular officials who think “lowly” of migrant workers.

Lawyer Bernard Gregorio of the non-government Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, said abused OFWs often remain quiet about the alleged impoliteness of the said officials.

“OFWs simply charge the whole thing to experience,” Gregorio told GMANews.TV on Monday.

Although Filipino migrant workers have every right to complain and even sue discourteous Philippine authorities under the Civil Service Rules, OFWs often do not file a case because they think it will cause them major inconvenience, according to Gregorio.

“They would normally ask the media’s help but they won’t file formal complaints in the Civil Service Commission. Well, one, because it is such a hassle,” Gregorio said.

“Filipino workers who remain in the custody of the Philippine Embassy keep quiet about their ordeal with these officials in fear that their petition to return home might not be approved,” the lawyer added.

He said Filipino migrants also believe that their complaints will be dismissed anyway, thus they just regard discourtesy and indifference as “normal attitude” among embassy officials.

Gregorio cited the case of a former domestic helper in Singapore who asked a Filipino official’s help after her Singaporean employer failed to give her monthly salary of $400.

Instead of hearing the OFW’s complaint or at the very least recording the incident, the Philippine official reportedly insulted the domestic helper, Gregorio said.

According to Gregorio, the consular official reportedly told the woman: “Eh inilagay lang naman sa kontrata ‘yan para tumaas ng konti ang tingin sa inyo (That salary rate was only put in your contract so that they would not think so lowly of you).”

Josua Mata, secretary-general of Alliance of Progressive Labor, a union-forming organization, echoed Gregorio’s view.

“These officials have an attitude problem toward migrant workers, especially domestic helpers” Mata said.

This is also the view of Jean Enriquez of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. “Just look at how OFWs see Philippine officials abroad and that’s your gauge of their service.”

According to Enriquez, Filipino officials need to undergo more training in human relations to better equip them in dealing with various complaints from OFWs.

Labor Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz in an earlier report urged OFWs to expose discourteous Philippine embassy and labor personnel in their work sites so they could be punished.

Baldoz, who had worked in the overseas labor sector for several years, said errant and discourteous Filipino officials could face disciplinary actions that range from warning to permanent dismissal.

She also said the two-month immersion period of Foreign Service officers under the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and labor and welfare officers under the Labor department should require an intensified human resource component. – MARK JOSEPH H. UBALDE, GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines – The upcoming Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Manila, would do nothing more but sell Filipino workers to the world, the leader of a union-organizing group for migrants in Hong Kong said.

According to Josua Mata, secretary-general of the Alliance for Progressive Labor (APL), the Philippine government would be keen on enticing other countries to employ OFWs.

“It’s a huge jobs fair for our government. I strongly suspect that our government’s interest is basically to try to forge bilateral agreements and find new markets for our primary export – the workers,” Mata told GMANews.TV on Friday.

The APL leader doubted if the results of the two-day forum would truly benefit Filipino workers because the GFMD is a non-binding and non-committal forum.

“It may produce tons of documents and very little else,” he added.

During the GFMD’s launch in March, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr, said that the government would assure that the forum would not be another “talk shop” of foreign leaders.

Conejos, who serves as the forum chairman, said they would take out the ‘politics’ in the meeting and instead invite “high-level policy practitioners” and migration experts in the discussions that would stretch from October 27 to 30.

He noted that the Philippines needs to impress upon other countries that the government is bent on safeguarding the welfare of Filipinos overseas so that their respective governments will also follow suit.

Mata said that the Philippine government had already signed numerous agreements with other countries but very few of them have been implemented.

“In reality, the migrant workers won’t get anything from that forum,” he said.

Jean Enriquez of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women echoed Mata’s cynicism toward the upcoming GFMD.

“I might be the most cynical among the migrant groups here,” Enriquez said during the launch of the People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights in Quezon City.

“The government has its own interest and that is to send more Filipino workers abroad,” she added.

According to Enriquez, the government’s goal of sending out 1 million Filipino workers every year reflects its policy on making overseas migration a permanent solution to the economic development of the country.

Meanwhile, Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy, said that they would hold a rally from October 22 to 30 at Rajah Sulayman Park to hold the Peoples’ Global Action on Migration Development and Human Rights.

According to her, they hope to trumpet the cause of Filipino migrant workers who have been treated as “disposable and cheap” foreign workers.

The Philippines was unanimously chosen by participating countries to host the 2nd GFMD from Oct. 27-30 after Brussels hosted the first forum last year.

It is also the first and only Asian country so far invited to host the event, next to Greece, Argentina, and Spain. – MARK JOSEPH UBALDE, GMANews.TV