MANILA, 13 June 2004 — The advocacy group Migrante International scored the Labor Department’s “stop-gap” solution to send a team to the Middle East to locate and repatriate Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who have ran away from their employers.

“It’s like putting a band-aid on a hemorrhaging patient. While it provides some relief for OFWs about to be repatriated, the plan barely scrapes the surface of the OFWs’ woes,” said Migrante secretary-general Maita Santiago.

She added that “horrendous work conditions, employer abuse and low or lack of wages compels many OFWs to ‘run away’ from their employers. Unless these and other conditions are addressed, there will be a never-ending stream of distressed migrants that need to be repatriated.”

Santiago also said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was playing “too late the hero” when it came to repatriating OFWs in distress.

“Had they truly worked to repatriate distressed OFWs earlier, Louella Montenegro and Catherine Bautista may still be alive,” said Santiago, referring to two of the three domestic workers recently killed in Lebanon despite efforts by their family and migrant groups to repatriate them prior to their deaths.

“The plight of ‘stranded OFWs’ is a long-standing problem. Last December, sixteen OFWs in Riyadh were even pushed into conducting a hunger strike inside the Philippine Embassy because their demand for repatriation always fell on deaf ears,” she added.

According to acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson, there are 492 stranded OFWs, including 327 in Kuwait, 83 in Saudi Arabia, 22 in Lebanon, 48 in the United Arab Emirates, and 12 in Bahrain.

“Given that these account only for the OFWs housed in the Filipino Workers Resource Centers, we believe there are many more outside the centers that also need to be repatriated,” she said.

Imson gave reassurance that all runaway workers desiring repatriation, whether in or out of the embassy premises, would be accommodated.

Migrante International said the Philippine government should be blamed for the fact that these OFWs run away.

“The Arroyo administration’s chronic effort to intensify the export of OFWs at whatever cost is the reason for the sorry state of Filipino migrants today.

“By consistently offering OFWs as the world’s ‘cheap and docile’ labor force, President Arroyo practically give license to foreign employers and host government to violate our rights,” said Santiago.

Santiago concluded that, “unless the administration works to address the fundamental problems of massive poverty and rising unemployment, the cycle of maltreated and stranded OFWs will never cease.”

Migrante Party-list chair Connie Bragas-Regalado asked why DOLE had to wait for runaway workers to number almost 500 before taking steps to repatriate these workers. “Do Philippine labor and foreign affairs officials have to wait for the number of suffering overseas Filipino workers ballooning to the hundreds before repatriating them?” Regalado asked.

She said, Migrante had earlier called the attention of the two departments on the plight of runaway workers in Kuwait and the rest of the Middle East.

“It seems that these high government officials want to prolong the agony of all OFWs who run away from abusive employers,” Regalado charged.

She said the 492 OFWs waiting to be repatriated from the Middle East was actually a low figure.

“In Riyadh alone, the Migrante chapter reports at least 300 stranded workers roaming the capital,” Regalado said.