ABU DHABI — The Philippine government plans to stop the migration of domestic workers overseas in a bid to protect its people from abuses, UAE daily The National reported Monday. The move, which aims to provide alternative employment in the Philippines and other approved countries, is likely to affect about 180 nations. Of the 96,583 Filipinos who went abroad to work as domestic staff in 2010, more than half migrated to Arabian Gulf states, the report added. Hong Kong received the most with 28,602, but Kuwait was the second highest destination with 21,554, the UAE with 13,184, Saudi Arabia 11,582 and Qatar 9,937, according to The National. The report did not disclose which countries would be targeted in the five-year phase-out plan, which is likely to ready by the end of the year. The UAE chapter of the migrant rights group Migrante has welcomed the move, adding that it felt the five-year period was ‘long overdue'. Karen Tanedo, the group's chairperson, told The National: “The procedures should be laid down properly to the HSWs [home service workers] who will be directly affected." “Plans must be disclosed to answer the real root cause of the program, which is poverty." But not everyone approves of the plan. Lito Soriano, chief executive of LBS Recruitment Solutions in Manila, said many Filipino women were left with no choice but to find work overseas in order to feed their families. “It will not work," he said. “Filipinos will still leave the country and will be among those who are undocumented or did not go through the overseas employment administration." Maids, nannies, gardeners, private tutors and family drivers are among the jobs that fall under the category of household service workers. Most of them are women. About 499,495 Filipinos took work as domestic staff worldwide from 2006 to 2011, but this figure does not include undocumented workers, according to a report in a Manila newspaper. The administration is analyzing its statistical data on the profile of overseas foreign workers who are employed as domestic workers. The sector did not represent a majority, but their numbers were increasing: in 2011, it reached more than 142,000, compared to an average of 60,000 to 70,000 a year in previous years. The phase-out program, which is still in the “conceptual framework and development stage", will involve a review of the domestic workers' data: their education and job profile, age, gender and region of origin in the Philippines. The Philippines would not be the first country to make such a move. In 2011 Indonesia stopped the migration of domestic workers to Saudi Arabia after the execution of Indonesian maid Ruyati binti Sapubi, who stabbed her employer to death after years of abuse. — Agencies
