Migrante dare Noli to go beyond posturing on OFW issues

 

Migrante dare Noli to go beyond posturing on OFW issues

 

Migrante International, a global alliance of Filipino migrants organizations, taunted Vice President Noli de Castro to take concrete actions on issues of OFWs instead of merely posturing as a concerned government official to grab media attention.

 

"Since Vice President Noli De Castro is the lead advocate in lifting deployment bans in war torn countries, we suggest that he investigate the existence of OFWs not only in Afghanistan but in other war torn countries as well", says Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante International. "Vice President Noli de Castro should start pushing blacklist companies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization base in Kabul," Matinez continues.

 

The Vice President previously suggested the lifting of the deployment ban in Lebanon claiming that it is already safe for Filipinos to work in the said country. Migrante however, questioned the proposal since the government has not yet addressed previous atrocities against domestic helpers in Lebanon.

 

Migrante claims that while helping the grieving families is important, the urgent action that should be done right now by Vice President De Castro as the Presidential Adviser for OFWs, is to also account for other Filipinos working in the said NATO base.

 

"Enough with the media posturing! VP de Castro must address immediately the plight of many OFWs in four other countries were the deployment ban was imposed". "Then a thorough investigation should be done to determine the culpability of the Flour Daniels Company in hiring the said OFWs and to determine how they were able to hire the said Filipinos", Martinez explained.

 

The four countries that have a deployment ban are Nigeria, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Then DOLE Secretary Arturo Brion imposed the memorandum for the said policy on December 17, 2007.

 

"In the immediate, we suggest that government impose stringent retribution to anyone who jeopardizes the lives of OFWs abroad. In the long term however, it is imperative that jobs be generated here in our country to dissuade Filipinos from desperately seeking jobs abroad in war town countries," Martinez ended.