Gov't Urged To Junk POEA Guidelines For HSW

DAVAO CITY – The Gabriela Women's Party List group on Saturday urged the public to support its call for the scrapping of the new Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) guidelines for Household Service Workers (HSW), which it said is a euphemized term for domestic helpers.

It said Filipinos working in Hong Kong were also protesting the new POEA guidelines and demanded the government to immediately scrap it.

The POEA guidelines for HSW are the following:

I. Newly hired HSWs[1] a) With visas issued prior to 16 December 2006, or processed under job orders registered with POEA prior to 16 December 2006, or processed under employment contracts that were verified by the concerned POLOs prior to 16 December 2006 shall be exempted from the following reform package:
• Minimum age of 23;
• Minimum entry salary of US$400;
• No – placement Fee policy; • TESDA NC2 Certificate; and
• Attendance to the OWWA Language and Culture Orientation;

Provided that these newly hired HSWs are processed at POEA before 1 March 2007.

b) With visas issued after 16 December 2006, or processed under job orders registered with POEA after 16 December 2006, or processed under employment contracts that were verified by the concerned POLOs after 16 December 2006 shall be covered by the following:
• Minimum age of 23;
• Minimum entry salary of US$400; • No – placement Fee policy;
• TESDA NC2 Certificate; and
• Attendance to the OWWA Language and Culture Orientation.

Newly hired HSWs shall exempted from the TESDA and OWWA requirements if bound for countries with prescribed skills training and language and culture orientation as conditions for visa issuance. The determination of the countries with such requirements shall be done by POEA.

II. Returning HSWs:a) Vacationing HSWs or those with existing overseas employment contracts executed prior to 1 March 2007 and are returning to their employer at anytime within the duration of their contract are exempted from the coverage of the following reforms: • Minimum age of 23;
• Minimum entry salary of US$400;
• TESDA NC2 Certificate; and
• Attendance to the OWWA Language and Culture Orientation.

The No-placement Fee policy does not apply to them since they are merely resuming their employment under an existing contract and are processed at the POEA without the participation of an agency.

b) HSWs who completed their overseas contracts within 2006 and thereafter, and are returning to the same or new employer with their OEC issued before 1 March 2007, are exempted from the following:
• Minimum age of 23; • Minimum entry salary of US$400; • Payment of placement fee, if hired thru an agency; • TESDA NC2 Certificate; and
• Attendance to the OWWA Language and Culture Orientation unless returning to a country with a different language and culture, as determined by OWWA.

c) HSWs who completed their overseas contracts before 2006 and are returning to the same or new employer with their OEC issued before 1 March 2007 are covered by the new minimum salary rate of US$400.

They are, however, exempted from the following:
• Minimum age requirement
• Payment of placement fee, if hired thru an agency
• TESDA NC2 requirement, unless required by their employer • OWWA Language and Culture Orientation unless returning to a country with a different language and culture, as determined by OWWA.

d) HSWs who completed their overseas employment contracts which were executed prior to 1 March 2007 and are being processed under a new contract with the same employer or new employer on or after 1 March 2007 are covered by the new minimum salary rate of US$400.

They are, however, exempted from the following:
• Minimum age requirement;
• Payment of placement fee, if hired thru an agency;
• TESDA NC2 requirement, unless required by their employer; and
• OWWA Language and Culture Orientation unless returning to a country with a different language and culture, as determined by OWWA.

e) HSWs who completed their employment contract before or after 2006 and are being processed under a new contract with the same or a new employer on or after 1 March 2007 are covered by the new minimum salary rate of US$400.

They are, however, exempted from the following:
• Minimum age requirement;
• Payment of placement fee, if hired thru an agency;
• TESDA NC2 requirement, unless required by their employer; and • OWWA Language and Culture Orientation unless returning to a country with a different language and culture, as determined by OWWA.

Last year, some $10.3 billion in overseas workers’ remittances were sent back home and it was 16.6 percent more than the previous year, according to Gabriela.

The group blamed President Gloria Arroyo for the hardship suffering of many overseas Filipino workers because of the new POEA guidelines.

"Mrs. Arroyo has been peddling our women, degrading them as mere commodities for her desperate efforts to fulfill her promise of 1.5 million jobs per year," Prof. Luz Ilagan, Gabriela second nominee, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

According to POEA data, women comprised majority of OFWs and since 1992, thepercentage of these women was equal to that of the men. In 2002, the percentage of women OFWs rose to 69 percent.

"Instead of approving the legislated wage hike or creating decent-paying jobs in the country, she opted to become the number one recruiter and exploiter of the women who are forced to work abroad despite the gnawing abuses awaiting them as well." Ilagan said.

In January, some 5,000 Filipino migrants workers in Hong Kong the new POEA guidelines on the deployment of domestic helpers.

Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the militant United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK), said that the protest action was just the first in the series of bigger ones that they are planning to organize to scrap the new prequalification measures of the POEA for Filipinos applying for domestic work abroad.

“Whenever the government is in dire need of money due to its bankrupt and corrupt economic policies, we are the ones who are made milking cows to fatten its coffers,” she said.

The protesters also held a program at Harcourt Garden, just below the building that houses the Philippine Consulate General, where they lambasted the POEA guidelines.

They also submitted a petition, signed by more than 130 organizations, that called for the scrapping of the new rules while also calling for genuine services to overseas Filipinos.
The protesters said new regulations are but mere “ploys for extortion”.

Under the said rules, applying domestic helpers must pass through several weeks of training to obtain the National Certificate for Household Service Workers, as the country-specific Language and Culture Certificate.

“Applicants are made to pay P1,500 (USD30) to P15,000 (USD300) for these so-called trainings. Even current OFWs are not spared as cases have been reported of them being refused to leave the Philippines if they fail to produce the said certificates,” Balladares said.

Balladares said that because of the nature of employment of current domestic helpers, “many of us, one way or another, will go back to the Philippines to have our papers processed.” (With reports from the Mindanao Examiner)