MANILA: Two international migrants’ organization yesterday demanded the Philippine government to intervene as Europe and Malaysia decided to deport more than half a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deemed as illegal migrants recently.
Calling it an “impending disaster,” Migrante International, an international coalition of OFW organizations, feared that close to 100,000 OFWs in Europe and 500,000 OFWs in Sabah will lose their jobs and will be forcibly deported back to the Philippines following the announcement of new policies by European Union (EU) countries and Malaysia.
The Center for Migrants Advocacy (CMA) lambasted these recent policies against undocumented migrants saying that the European Union Parliament’s decision to deport illegal migrant workers is a violation of the trade and service agreements between EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Migrante International has asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to put on top of the agenda in the forthcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development in October the legalization of undocumented migrant workers to assure them of their security of tenure and employment.
Migrante also reacted to the unanimous vote of European Union interior ministers last month to incarcerate overstaying migrants for 18 months and deport them together with their families to their countries of origin. Undocumented migrants will likewise be put on blacklist for five years to prevent them from entering any European country again.
This EU decision to deport illegal workers will affect 40,000 OFWs in France where majority work in Paris and Nice, and 20,000 OFWs in Rome and Milan in Italy. These undocumented workers are mostly caregivers and domestic helpers.
The Malaysian government also at the same time ordered the rounding up of undocumented migrant workers in Sabah.
Malaysian officials deemed the illegal workers as a “burden” to the government because they are alleged to have been involved in crimes and illegal drugs.
Malaysian authorities say that there are 500,000 illegal OFWs in Sabah who work in lumber industry and plantations.
