Manila, Philippines – An alliance of Filipino migrant rights group in the Middle East is urging the Philippine government, through the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), to get first the commitment of prospective foreign employers and receiving governments to respect and observe the rights and welfare of overseas Filipno workers (OFWs) before any actual deployment of hired Filipinos abroad are made.

“The primary consideration in the deployment of OFWs abroad is the protection of their well-being, rights and welfare; upholding the dignity of our OFWs abroad, in fact, is a declared State policy clearly stated not only in the amended Migrant workers and Overseas Filipinos Act or RA 10022 but based on the mandate of the provision of the 1987 Constitution,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.

Monterona cited the newly amended law (RA 10022), Sec.4 that explicitly re-enumerates the pre-conditions wherein deployment of OFWs could only be made possible if the receiving or host country could guarantee that hired OFWs well-being, and that OFWs rights and welfare will be protected and respected.

“The thousands of distressed and run away OFWs asking for repatriation in the Middle East wherein the DoLE claimed it already repatriated nearly a thousand since July 2010 mostly from the Middle East are living proof; this is representative of the seven to 10 cases daily of abuses and maltreatment recorded by Migrante chapters in the Middle East,” Monterona added.

However, according to Monterona repatriating distressed OFWs is merely a reactive measure that won’t solve the problem of abuses, maltreatment and rampant labor malpractices facing OFWs abroad.

Monterona further said it is imperative now for the administration of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to review the intensified labor exportation policy, which the current administration subsequently followed from previous administrations, “in view of the state policy of securing and protecting OFWs well-being, rights and welfare.”

Monterona said as the Chief Executive of the government, Aquino must decisively act on the worsening conditions of OFWs in the Middle East and direct all concerned government agencies to work for the protection of OFWs well-being and must ensure that their rights and welfare will be guaranteed.

“One affirmative action is the implementation of concrete measures such as getting foreign employers and the receiving governments’ commitment to respect and observe OFWs rights and welfare before actual deployment abroad that could be formally done through bilateral human rights-based labor agreement or arrangement,” Monterona ended.