4,775 OFWs in jail

[explorer]

so what's the role of OWWA on this issue? is OWWA just good for collecting the money of its members and have them used by some people to win the election? i'm about to start my job here in UK and i'm thinking if i need to be a member of this useless agency. are ALL OFWs required to be a member of OWWA?

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4,775 OFWs in jail

Nov 29, 2005
Updated 00:38am (Mla time)
Philip C. Tubeza
Inquirer News Service

CONGRESS is looking for more ways to assist overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, especially after the Department of Foreign Affairs reported that 4,775 of them were languishing in jails abroad -- in all continents except Antarctica -- the chair of the House appropriations committee said yesterday.

Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur province said one proposal his committee has decided on was to increase the amount Philippine embassies are allowed to keep of the income they generate in the form of fees for various consular services such as the issuance of visas and renewal of passports. This income could then be used for OFWs in distress, including the 4,775 Filipinos in foreign jails.

“This is also in appreciation of the robust dollar remittances of overseas Filipino workers,” Andaya said.

No estimates were immediately available on how much in consular fees Philippine foreign missions are able to generate annually. Embassies were required in the past to remit the bulk of this income to Manila.

To assist Filipinos in conflict with the law and culture abroad, Andaya said the 2006 budget bill would allow foreign posts to retain up to 50 percent of their income from consular services, which was substantially higher than in the past.

Another P251 million, or five percent of the P5.3-billion budget of the Department of Affairs (DFA) for next year, has also been earmarked as “building fund” to spruce up decrepit consular offices, Andaya said.

These appropriations are separate from contingency funds under the discretion of Labor agencies, such as the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, he added.

Andaya said the DFA’s 2004 “global situationer” on OFWs stressed the need to increase aid to Filipinos who have “fallen into the cracks of global labor migration.”

The 430-page report -- culled from dispatches of the country’s 82 diplomatic posts -- lists some of the “triumphs and travails” of the estimated 5.7 million Filipinos working abroad.

The report showed that, as of the end of 2004, some 4,775 Filipinos were languishing in foreign jails, 5,883 had sought help from Philippine embassies for a variety of reasons during that year; and 12, 613 had to be sent back to the Philippines with government help, Andaya said.

While he described the number of Filipinos detained abroad as a “matter of concern,” Andaya said they represented only 1/1200th of the total number of OFWs.

“But each one must be helped because we have always been guided by the policy that one Filipino in jail abroad is one too many,” he said.

Of the 4,775 OFWs in foreign jails last year, 1,103 were women, he added.

And of the 82 Philippine missions abroad, only 12 reported not having aided a citizen in detention, “which means that in every continent except Antarctica, in every climatic zone, you can find a Filipino behind bars,” Andaya said.

He said Malaysia, whose jails -- mostly in Sabah -- harbored 1,200 Filipinos last year, topped the list of countries where Filipinos were detained.

Israel was second, with the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv reporting that 1,028 Filipinos were detained in jails in Ramle, Hadera, Nazareth, Beersheva and Holon. Next were Japan (314), Saudi Arabia (213), Singapore (192), Kuwait (47) and Hong Kong (77), Andaya said.

He added that work-related and immigration concerns were the oft-cited reasons for the incarceration of Filipinos.

Among “OFWs in distress,” or those who ran to Philippine consulates for help, almost 40 percent -- or 2,122 of the global tally of 5,583 cases -- were recorded in Kuwait, Andaya said.

All of those who sought refuge in the Philippine embassy in Kuwait were Filipinas, “runaways who fled from work-place maltreatment and oppression, ranging from ***ual molestation, physical abuse and nonpayment of salaries,” he added.

Andaya said the United Arab Emirates followed Kuwait, registering 797 “Filipinos in distress.” Third was Singapore, with 448 cases, according to the DFA report.

Of the recorded 12,613 deportations and repatriations of Filipinos worldwide in 2004, about one-third, or 4,476, came from Malaysia, after it cracked down on undocumented guest workers last year, Andaya said.

Next was Saudi Arabia, with 1,094, “which is a small percentage” of the one million-strong Filipino community in that country; while a close third was Kuwait with 1,043 cases, which “is not surprising” as it topped the countries with the most number of distressed OFWs, he added.

[Karding]

Nahihirapan yata palayain ng OWWA ang karamihang detainee since illegal immigration ang karamihang kaso nila.

Yeah, member sila ng OWWA but once na mag TNT sila, mahihirapan na yata ang OWWA para gumawa ng mabilisang paraaan para palayain sila. Afterall, nilabag nila ang immigration law ng ibang bansa. Or maybe since kapwa pinoy natin sila eh dapat 'palusitin' na lang sila [?] and F**K the immigration law ng ibang bansa.

consequences mga kapatid, consequences...

[mazdamazda]

if they broke the law abroad, then they deserve to be in jail. hindi porke't OFW eh special treatment.

[the_wildthing]

if they broke the law abroad, then they deserve to be in jail. hindi porke't OFW eh special treatment.

Exactly! Kahit dito if you break the law, dapat kulong din di ba?

Unless wrongful imprisonment...

[empy]

m2 said it. [/end thread]

[Isuzoom]

I want to see stupid senators ang tongressman in jail! also crook government officials!

[explorer]

if they broke the law abroad, then they deserve to be in jail. hindi porke't OFW eh special treatment.

IF they broke the law, then i won't argue. but are those 4,775 OFWs proven guilty by the the proper authorities in the country where they are jailed? have you heard of horror stories about OFWs who have been jailed for complaining about the abuse of employers for not releasing their salaries? because most of the countries in middle east don't have the proper judicial system, many of these jailed OFWs are victims rather than criminals.

[oldblue]

IF they broke the law, then i won't argue. but are those 4,775 OFWs proven guilty by the the proper authorities in the country where they are jailed? have you heard of horror stories about OFWs who have been jailed for complaining about the abuse of employers for not releasing their salaries? because most of the countries in middle east don't have the proper judicial system, many of these jailed OFWs who are victims rather than criminals.

ganun naman talaga eh, kung sino pa yun mga emotional yun ang nakukulong. mga mababait na na-push sa limit at bigla nag-snap.