Yes! To protection of migrant Filipina domestic workers, No! To GMA’s Super Maids and Labor Export Program
— November 11, 2008The Alliance of Migrants and Advocates to Amend RA 8042 (AMEND) and the Network Opposed to Violence Against Women Migrants (NOVA) recognize recent efforts of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to protect migrant Filipina domestic workers (FDWs) by issuing stricter rules regulating their deployment. However, the “protection package” of the DOLE may come to nothing if the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) administration continues its aggressive labor export program, which commodifies and therefore dehumanizes the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that it purports to protect. Moreover, as it is, the “protection package” may even be used by unscrupulous recruitment agencies and training centers to extort money from prospective migrant FDWs. We object to the lack of consultation in the process of crafting the policies and reiterate that government adhere to its declaration that it recognizes and guarantees “the right of Filipino migrant workers and all overseas Filipinos to participate in the decision making processes of the State …” (Sec 2(f), RA 8042).
View the full statement: Yes! To protection of migrant Filipina domestic workers, No! To GMA’s Super Maids and Labor Export Program