About a hundred repatriated overseas Filipino workers and their supporters have camped out in front of the office of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and vowed not to leave until their demands are met. The demands included reimbursement of their repatriation costs and payment of unpaid wages and benefits. The demonstration included 40 female caregivers recently repatriated from Saudi Arabia after staging a work stoppage last year due to alleged unfair labor practices by their employer. “We are sick and tired of being ignored by the government, who has so far not lifted a finger to help us workers who almost died of starvation and neglect abroad. We will stay here until we are given the justice that is due us,” said Joy Flancia, one of the former caregiver, in a statement. In an interview with GMANews.TV, OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon said it is not OWWA's obligation to pay for workers' repatriation and unpaid salaries, saying the OFWs should seek help from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to go after their employer. “They are barking at the wrong tree. Where do we get the money? Are we a bank? It is not in the mandate of OWWA to pay for debts incurred by employers,” she said. Dimzon added that it is the company and not the OFWs, that paid for their repatriation arranged by the POEA. When asked in a separate interview, POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili said it was OWWA that arranged the workers' repatriation. In another interview, Garry Martinez, chair of the migrants' rights group Migrante International, said the workers have been informed by the company that their unpaid wages were used to fund their repatriation. Martinez added, “These are OWWA members who paid the membership fee and are thus qualified for repatriation.” Migrant workers pay an OWWA membership fee of $25 (P1,134 at current exchange rates) upon processing of their employment contracts, and benefits, include financial assistance in cases of repatriation and livelihood assistance. Dimzon said OWWA has offered the striking workers a livelihood assistance amounting to P10,000 but the workers refused to take it. Martinez said the assistance comes in the form of scholarship for workers to freely attend training sessions, after which materials relevant to their desired livelihood will be given to them. Earlier in the day, the protesting OFWs dropped by the POEA to file cases of violations of labor laws against their recruitment agencies. Martinez said the agencies, as contacted by the POEA, tried to negotiate a settlement with the workers through a one-time payment of P3,000-P5,000, but the workers decided to pursue the cases. “Instead of helping OFWs get their unpaid salaries and allowances, the POEA, as it has done in millions of other cases of OFWs, has instead offered them a settlement, Martinez said in a statement. “This mass docketing is symbolic of their [OFWs'] intent to punish their recruitment agencies – something that the government has not done.” Manalili said the cases have already been docketed and will be raffled off to an adjudicator. “Unpaid wages and other claims will be tackled during the hearings,” she said.
