OFWs seek GMA ouster on International Migrants Day
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BAGUIO CITY (Dec. 15) — As Migrante-Metro Baguio commemorates December 18 as International Migrants Day, the group calls for the ouster of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) saying that GMA “has no moral ground to lead” the country.
Migrante Chair Flora Belinan reiterated that Filipinos are among the most oppressed migrant workers in the world and the GMA administration failed to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFW). She added that the present administration is even encouraging more Filipinos to work abroad through its labor export policy.
Migrante data shows that to date some 4,000 professional and skilled Filipino workers leave the country every day while six to 10 OFWs come home dead. It also added that Migrante International receives countless cases of labor and human rights violations daily apart from thousands of Filipinos seeking repatriation are stranded in different countries.
A Migrante statement said that apart from the labor and human rights violations OFWs suffer abroad, their families here, like all other Filipino families, suffer from poverty, deprivation of basic social services. It also added that some OFW kin are victims of political killings.A Cordillera migrant’s families are even affected by militarization and state terrorism, added Belinan.
Belinan cited that Jose “Pepe” Manedeg was murdered along the highway in San Esteban, Ilocos Sur while waiting for a ride to Manila to meet his wife Dom-an, a domestic helper in Hong Kong who was then coming terminated.
The Migrante statement explained that on December 18, 1990 the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was approved by the United Nations General Assembly, after almost a decade of government negotiations and strong migrant advocacy around the world.
The United Nations declared December 18 as International Migrants Day on December 4, 2000 as a result of lobbying efforts of international agencies and migrant groups, according to Migrante. # Kim Quitasol for NORDIS
