SIKLAB – Canada (Sulong, Itaguyod ang Karapatan ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino sa Labas ng Bansa / Advance and Uphold the Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers)
Press release 

Group decries death of two Filipina maids; slams government neglect of Filipino migrant workers trapped in Lebanon

For immediate release: August 3, 2006

A national organization of Filipino migrant workers in Canada slammed the Philippine government for their slow evacuation of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from war-torn Lebanon. Reports yesterday from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said two Filipina maids, Mary Jane Pangilinan died on July 26, and Michelle Tomagan died July 28 after jumping from the buildings of their employers who refused to let them join the evacuations.

According to the group, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made an appeal only yesterday for OFWs in Lebanon to return to the Philippines and announced the formation of Task Force Lebanon to deal with the repatriation.

“Arroyo’s announcement comes too late for the families of Mary Jane Pangilinan and Michelle Tomagan,” said Glecy Duran, National Vice-Chairperson for Western Canada of SIKLAB-Canada. “Their deaths are proof that the Philippine government is ineffective and unprepared in dealing with this type of crisis even though this is not the first time Filipino workers have been caught in the middle of a war,” said Duran.

She cited the examples of Angelo de la Cruz, the Filipino worker who was taken hostage in Iraq in 2004 and the Gulf War crisis in 1991 which left hundreds of thousands of OFWs stranded in Kuwait in the middle of the war between US-led coalition forces and Iraq. Many women were reportedly raped and even died in the crossfire.

“The slow pace at which Filipino workers in Lebanon are being repatriated is reflective of Arroyo’s general neglect of OFWs,” she said.

According to the group, while the crisis in Lebanon began to escalate in late June, evacuation of OFWs in the country only began on July 23. Since then, only 1,160 of the estimated 34,000 OFWs in Lebanon have been repatriated to the Philippines. An estimated two out of three OFWs in the country are undocumented, mostly working as domestic workers in Beirut.

“While Filipino migrant workers do the dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs abroad, the truth is Arroyo does not want us to come home,” said Duran. “Arroyo would prefer that we stay abroad since she relies heavily on the $12 billion USD we remit home each year and she has no jobs to offer us if we return home,” she said.

Yesterday, Arroyo also announced plans to provide training for those who are repatriated from Lebanon to become “super maids” in order for them to be deployed to work abroad again.

The Philippine government has come under heavy criticism from MIGRANTE – International, an alliance of OFW organizations and their families, for the slow repatriation of OFWs in Lebanon. An investigation into the possible misuse of funds of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is also taking place in the Philippine Senate. The OWWA fund is reported to total 8.1 million pesos made up of a mandatory $25 USD membership fee collected from each OFW. An estimated 3000 OFWs leave the Philippines to look for work abroad daily.

“The Philippine government is reluctant to release money from the OWWA repatriation fund for those who wish or need to return to the Philippines,” said Duran. She cited the example of Filipino live-in caregivers in Canada who are unable to meet the requirements of Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC’s) Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and are ordered deported from Canada.

“We have handled many cases where Filipino live-in caregivers who are being ordered deported have been discouraged by the Philippine Consulate from accessing the OWWA repatriation fund because it would ‘take too long to process’ the request,” said Duran.

She also cited the example of Laila Suan-Elumbra who is being deported from Canada after she fell two months short of the required 24 months of live-in work under the LCP when she fell seriously ill and was in a coma in the hospital for seven months. Elumbra has received little assistance or service from the Philippine Ambassador or Consulate and has had to rely on organizations like SIKLAB and the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) for support.

“When it comes to remittances we are the ‘super maids, modern heroes’ and milking cows of the Arroyo government,” said Duran. “But when it comes to assisting us in times of crisis or need, the Philippine government is inutile.”

SIKLAB-Canada has member organizations in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Winnipeg.

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For more information, please contact:

VANCOUVER: Glecy Duran, SIKLAB – Canada Vice Chairperson at: 604-215-1103 or e-mail: siklab@kalayaancentre.net

MONTREAL: Roderick Carreon, SIKLAB – Canada Chairperson at: 514-344-2709
TORONTO: Marco Luciano, SIKLAB – Ontario at: siklab_ontario@yahoo.ca