Militant migrant group Migrante Hong Kong has denounced the four-fold increase in the verification fee for new employment contracts submitted to the Migrant Workers Office starting Sunday, Mar 1.
The group is set to stage a picket outside the
Philippine Consulate offices on the same day to protest against what they called
an unconscionable exaction on Filipino migrant workers.
“Maliwanag pa
sa (sikat) ng araw na isa na naman itong porma ng pangongotong. Wala na talagang
pakundandangan ang gobyernong Marcos, Jr. sa pagturing sa mga OFW bilang
negosyo, imbes na bigyan ng maayos na proteksyon at pagbutihin ang serbisyo sa
mga OFW,” said a statement issued by Migrante HK early on Saturday.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
(This is clearly another form of exaction. The government
of Marcos Jr is really bent on treating overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as
commodities, instead of providing them greater protection and better service).
Under the new fee schedule released by the MWO on
Friday, all new individual employment contracts submitted for verification from
March 1 will be charged a fee of HK$320, instead of the current HK$80.
All existing contracts that will be extended with
the same employer, or transferred to a new one, will be verified at the old
rate.
The fee, as before, is supposed to be paid by the employer or the recruitment agency after Immigration approves the contract, and issues an employment visa to the worker.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Only those with verified contracts can apply for the overseas employment certificate, which serves as an exit pass when they leave the Philippins for work abroad.
Thomas Chan, head of the HK Union of Employment
Agencies, has also criticized the new fee as being too steep, and is one that
will likely be opposed by everyone involved.
Chan also said that some workers might be forced to
pay the fee themselves to appease employers who might be outraged by the
jacked-up amount.
Migrante HK said that with the widely-reported
increase in the budget allocation of the Department of Migrant Workers, there should
be no reason why it would raise the verification fee, especially not by 400%.
“Para tayong binusuhan ng asin sa sugat, lalo na at
hindi pa napapanagot ang lahat ng sangkot sa malalang korapsyon sa bansa,” said
Migrante HK.
(This was like rubbing salt to our wound, especially
since not all of those linked to massive corruption in the country have been
held to account).
The group said it would not keep quiet in the face
of the new exaction on OFWs, and vowed to continue protesting until the Philippine
government backtracks on the issue.
