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| Labatt Chavez and Congen Israel say OFWs should not be made to pay the verification fee |
The Philippine Consulate General and the Migrant
Workers Office in Hong Kong have sought to allay concerns of overseas Filipino
workers over the hike in verification fee which went up by as much as four times in the case of contracts covering
new arrivals, starting last Sunday, Mar. 1.
In a press briefing called earlier today, Tuesday,
both Consul General Romulo Israel, Jr. and Labor Attache Cesar Chavez, Jr. said
the new fees announced only four days ago should have been implemented as early
last year in line with a Joint Circular by the Departments of Migrant Workers,
Budget and Management and The Bureau of Treasury.
Both officials said that despite the seemingly
massive increase in the fee, only a few OFWs will be affected as those who are
rehired or are returning to the same employer after a vacation (Balik
Manggagawa), or move to another while still in Hong Kong, will still be covered
by the current fee of HK$80 (or US$10 per the Joint Circular).
Only the new hires, or those coming to Hong Kong for
the first time (or those who had previously worked here but had to go home to
process a new work contract) will be subject to the new fee of HK$320, which amounts
to four times the current fee of HK$80.
Congen Romulo said all these were relayed to a group
of protesters from Migrante Hong Kong who picketed the Consulate building on
Sunday to hit out at the new fees, calling them a form of “kotong” (extortion)
by the Philippine government.
“We invited them to come up and we had a little
dialogue,” said Congen Romulo.
During their talk, the two officials assured the protesters that the higher fees will not be passed on to OFWs as it has always been the Philippine government’s mandate that all processing costs should be borne either by the employer or the recruitment agency.
“The employer must pay this fee, not the worker,” said the officials, adding that any OFW who is forced to pay the charge should report immediately to the MWO so appropriate action can be taken.
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| Mendez calls for better protection instead of more exactions on OFWs |
But according to Bayan HK’s Baneng Mendez, one of the protest organizers, OFWs who are in HK should not feel relieved by the assurance that only the new arrivals will be covered by the jacked-up fee.
“Kahit di tayo affected, mas lalo tayong dapat magalit kasi kapwa natin OFWs ang apektado. Hindi pa nga sila kumikita, ginagatasan na,” said Mendez in her speech during the picket.
(Even if we are not affected, we should be enraged even more because our fellow OFWs will be hit. Before they start earning money, they are already being milked dry).
It's also not true that the cost will not be passed on to the new hires because they know that if they don't pay up, they will not be able to leave the country, she said.
Mendez also rued the lack of prior notice or consultation, when Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac himself came to Hong Kong only recently, and did not mention anything about the fee increase.
She also said that OFWs should not keep quiet about the higher fees because if they do, the government will just continue extracting more money from them, while failing to provide enough assistance and benefits.
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| Protesters ask why Secretary Cacdac did not mention the fee increase during a recent visit to HK |
Both officials explained to the protesters that the
higher fee should have been collected as early as last year, after the Hong Kong
government gave its consent. Before this, all other Philippine posts abroad
(except in Taiwan where a different mechanism is in place) had already started
implementing the new fee schedule, according to them.
Labatt Chavez said that when he took office in
December last year, he immediately saw the oversight, and asked the head office
for a deferment of the collection, as he knew he would be answerable to the
government if the circular was not implemented. Failing to receive a response
to this request, he decided to go ahead and announced the new fee.
Contrary to claims that no consultation was made
with concerned parties, he said this would have been done a long time ago in
the Philippines, though it would have involved the recruitment agencies primarily,
as they would be the ones most affected by the increase.
Thus, the agencies, both in the Philippines and in
Hong Kong, should have known about the increase long before it was announced
here, he said.
Despite the uniform fee of HK$320 now being charged by MWO for verifying new employment contracts, he said this is still lower than the HK$390 that Indonesia charges for the same service.
But both officials said it was unfortunate that the
fee hike had to be implemented at a time when Filipinos were still smarting from
the massive corruption uncovered in flood control projects in the country, making OFWs feel that the money lost from the anomaly is being unfairly passed
on to them.