STATEMENT from the NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN CANADA (NAPWC)
Statement

Death Sentence of Marilou Ranario, Overseas Foreign Worker (OFW), Responsibility of the Arroyo Government

November 15, 2007

The National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), along with Migrante International and the BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, places the responsibility of the death sentence of Marilou Ranario, OFW, directly on the lap of the Macapagal-Arroyo government, for propagating the trafficking of Filipino workers under slave-like conditions and for the scant protection of the rights and welfare of Filipino workers abroad. 
The NAPWC strongly urges the Amir of Kuwait and the Philippine Government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to stop the death sentence of the domestic worker whose final appeal is expected in early 2008. 

Marilou Ranario is a professionally trained teacher from the Philippines, where poverty due to government economic policies, forced her migration to Kuwait to work as a domestic worker, while her husband, underemployed, drives a passenger jeepney.  Ranario is separated from her children who are in the Philippines.  According to Ranario’s family, she had suffered severe maltreatment in the hands of her employer and that the night before her employer’s death, she feared greatly for her life. 

Of the 3,000 OFWs who leave daily, close to 70% are women workers in more than 190 countries.  As Filipino women, we are appalled at the weakness of the Philippine government to secure the life of Marilou Ranario, who, as an OFW, Macapagal-Arroyo calls “modern-day heroes.”  With estimated US$15 billion remittances sent home by OFWs, accounting for at least 40% of debt servicing, OFWs prop up the Philippine government.  Yet in spite of their contributions to the economy, OFWs receive little or no support from the Philippine government abroad.  When escaping cruel and oppressive employers, many go to overcrowded shelters known to Philippine officials abroad, but receive no legal, social, or health support their consulates or embassies.  Approximately 1-2 women are shipped home daily in caskets. 

Overseas Filipino workers in Canada are also vulnerable to violence and abuse because of their forced migration from the Philippines and because of the conditions of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in Canada. This program of the Canadian government has brought nearly 100,000 Filipino women to Canada as live-in caregivers to do childcare, elderly care and other low-paying domestic work in the homes of middle- and upper-class Canadians.

For 20 years, Filipino women in Canada have been advocating and calling for the scrapping of the LCP because its requirements create the conditions for modern-day slavery, violence, and abuse.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to continue to build genuine international solidarity to support Filipino migrant workers in their just struggle for their rights and welfare and against the root causes of forced migration from the Philippines.

It is reported that a letter of forgiveness or tanazul was given by the family of Najat Mahmoud Faraj Mobarak.  This significant gesture must be followed by efforts of the Kuwaiti State to spare Ranario’s life and the Philippine government to demand her release and return to the Philippines.  We encourage further appeals to be addressed directly to:

His Highness Sheikkh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
The Amir of the State of Kuwait
Al Diwan Al Amiri, Sief Palace – Building 100
State of Kuwait
Telephone: 9-65-888881; FAX: 9-65-2430559
amisrsoffice@da.gov.kw

 
From:  the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC)
c/o pwcontario@yahoo.ca; pwcofquebec@gmail.com; pwc@kalayaancentre.net
Phone/FAX :   (604) 215-1103

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