By
Daisy CL Mandap
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| An irate Villanueva accuses Berlitz of not being pro-OFW |
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| Berlitz tells Villanueva he is an undocumented worker |
Militant OFW leader Eman Villanueva and ACTS-OFW Party-List
Representative Aniceto “John” Bertiz nearly came to blows at the office of
Labor Attache Jalilo de la Torre yesterday, Jan. 29, during talks on the
overseas employment certificate (OEC).
Villanueva, along with fellow members of United
Filipinos – Migrante Hong Kong were at the office for a scheduled meeting with
Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello who, however, was unable to come
because of an emergency trip to Kuwait to visit an OFW on death row.
He sent in his place Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod,
who came with Bertiz.
Unifil asked for the meeting after protesting
earlier in the day for the scrapping of the OEC and the integration of the
airport terminal fee in the air tickets purchased by OFWs.
From the start, Bertiz had tried to dominate the
talks, and took pains to explain that the OEC was necessary to distinguish
between a documented and an undocumented worker.
Unifil chairperson Dolo Balladares countered that
there was no such need, as all legitimate or documented OFWs have a work visa
and a contract to prove their status.
This was affirmed by Villanueva and the other OFW
leaders present who told Maglunsod of the many problems encountered by OFWs
recently in the wake of the revised policy on the OEC. Instead of acquiring an
OEC outright, OFWs were forced to create an online account so they could avail
of an OEC exemption, for which they still had to pay the $20 fee.
When he finally had his turn to speak, Bertiz talked
at length about the need to build a government data base, and eventually come
up with a “one-time OFW ID”.
“Ito na siguro ang kasagutan para tanggalin na yung
OEC”, he said
But in the meantime, he said the OEC is necessary to
stop human trafficking and other irregularities, including cases of OFWs who
change their identities just so they could continue working abroad.
He also hinted that there was no longer a need for
OFWs to take to the streets to get their sentiments known because they already
have allies inside government.
“Ang kaibahan lang ngayon may kakampi na tayo sa
loob, lalo-lalo na ang Presidente (Rodrigo) Duterte”, he said
Bertiz spoke continuously for about 12 minutes until
Villanueva tried to stop him, to which the lawmaker snapped: “Patapusin mo muna
ako, you had your turn kanina”.
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| In contrast, Maglunsod was cool |
An irate Villanueva countered: “Kayo na ang umubos
sa oras namin. Kami ay nakipag-meeting sa DOLE at hindi sa inyo”.
Berlitz replied: “Pareho lang tayong OFW. Hindi ako
naiiba sa inyo, OFW din ako”.
This appeared to irk Villanueva even more that he
replied with, “Hindi ka OFW, ikaw ay agency owner”.
This appeared to hit home because Bertiz, who worked
as an office clerk in Saudi Arabia for five years, now sits as president and
CEO of Global Asia Alliance Consultant Inc., said to be one of the biggest
recruitment agencies in the Philippines
Their fight then degenerated into Bertiz accusing Villanueva
of being an undocumented worker after the latter said he did not owe his job to
an agency, and the latter telling the former of being arrogant just
because he had won a a seat in congress.
By this time, the two were already shouting at each
other, and had to be restrained by people around them so they wouldn’t come to
blows.
Eventually, the leaders decided to walk out on
Bertiz but agreed to continue talking to Maglunsod in another room.
The dialogue proceeded smoothly then, with the labor
official telling the OFW leaders to immediately draft a petition letter
addressed directly to President Duterte, explaining their concerns over the
OEC, the terminal fee, and the OWWA membership fee.
The latter issue was added after Maglunsod was told
that the implementing guidelines for the 2016 OWWA Act, which provides for a
fixed term of two years for OWWA membership, has yet to be issued.
