THE Philippine government should ensure that foreign workers are treated fairly and equally in the same way that it demands the same for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in their host countries, a labor leader-turned-lawmaker yesterday said.
Deputy speaker Raymond Democrito Mendoza of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) party-list made the call as the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced plans to deport at least 2,000 Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) workers.
“TUCP calls on the government to pay equal attention to the plight of these foreign workers because we ourselves have also deployed millions of overseas Filipino workers and seafarers abroad,” the labor leader-lawmaker said in a statement. “Government must ensure the proper treatment of these foreign POGO workers in the same manner that we demand the proper treatment of our OFWs abroad.”
Mendoza said the government should observe the “golden rule,” which is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated.
The DOJ earlier announced plans to deport at least 2,000 POGO workers by October as part of a crackdown on foreign workers who are illegally staying in the country.
The DOJ has revealed that there are an estimated 40,000 POGO workers or Chinese nationals still in the country despite the termination of 175 POGO licenses.
Data from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), on the other hand, show that there are 120,976 POGO workers in the country as of 2020. Of the 120,976 foreign POGO workers, 69,613 are Chinese; 3,000 are Vietnamese; 2,400 are Indonesians; 1,700 are Taiwanese; 1,200 are Malaysians, with the remaining number from 44 other countries.
Mendoza pointed out that “we have seen the horrific treatment of illegal and undocumented OFWs, and how extremely vulnerable our Filipino workers were, and are, in distant countries to abuse and draconian treatment from governments that regarded our OFWs as mere commodities.”
Nagkaisa chairperson Sonny Matula, who ran for senator in the May 2022 elections under the Robredo-Pangilinan ticket, said that like many Filipino OFWs abused abroad, “foreign POGO workers should not be considered criminals, but victims of shady labor and business practices.”
“To us in the labor movement, the most important aspect of that protection aside from due process is by not criminalizing the victims, for in many cases, migrant workers end up victims to onerous labor contracts if not outright trafficking by criminal organizations,” Matula said in the same statement.
Matula explained that the Department of Labor and Employers (DOLE) needs to take a more active role in the regulation of POGO workers, as it is in charge of the registration and issuance of work permits to regulate the employment of foreigners under the Labor Code.
The labor group also urged the DOLE, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Migrant Workers “to work together to formulate a coherent policy on the POGO issue, and to involve labor organizations and migrant groups in that policymaking process.”
