Manpower group wants BI acting chief fired for row with Taiwan
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:36:00 02/24/2011
MANILA, Philippines—A group of recruitment agencies deploying overseas Filipino workers to Taiwan called for the relief of the acting chief of the Bureau of Immigration, saying it would ease Taipei’s anger for the alleged illegal deportation of 14 Taiwanese nationals to China early this month.
In a statement, the Pilipino Association of Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (Pilmat) blamed BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma for the “hasty” deportation of the 14 Taiwanese on February 2 despite the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus by the Court of Appeals three days earlier.
“The firing of Ledesma would constitute some kind of apology that would be acceptable to Taiwan since it was his actions which triggered this tense situation between Taiwan and the Philippines,” Pilmat president Jackson Gan said.
Gan asked President Aquino to save the jobs of 100,000 OFWs in Taiwan and their families here who may suffer loss of income if Taipei makes good its threat to freeze its hiring of OFWs in retaliation for Manila’s stand that it would not apologize for the deportations.
“The actions of Ledesma in brushing aside the CA order triggered the diplomatic row which has not turned for the worse was Taiwan factory owners are now asking for replacements of OFWs with Vietnamese, Indonesians and Indians to fill up the vacancies which were originally reserved for Filipnos,” Gan said.
Ledesma has been OIC of BI since July last year; Malacañang has yet to appoint a permanent immigration commissioner. Additionally, the BI’s mother agency, the Department of Justice, has designated an undersecretary to oversee the bureau’s affairs.
It would be recalled that Taiwan’s representative in the Philippines, Donald Lee, had tried to stop the deportations. He even showed up at Ninoy Aquino International Airport with the CA order and the documents of the Taiwanese, who were deported anyway.
Gan also said that the “indiscretions” committed by the BI should be investigated by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. The recruitment industry leader referred to news reports stating that there was a reward of US$200,000 offered by the Chinese government for each of the deported Taiwanese.
Former senator Mar Roxas, Aquino’s personal representative, met with officials in Taiwan and vowed that Manila will punish any Philippine officials found to have mishandled the case.
Taiwan media reports on Wednesday referred to a “fact sheet” distributed by Taiwan’s foreign ministry regarding talks between Foreign Minister Timothy Yang and Roxas. The document stated, among others that in the event officials would be found to have been involved in wrong doing, “the Philippine authorities will act accordingly, including the possibility of punitive action, which for the Taiwan side would signify a kind of apology.”
Gan, in a separate interview, said he was told by Taiwanese employers that the Aquino administration’s refusal to apologize showed “arrogance” on the part of Manila.
“It was an ill-advised and arrogant statement from the president. He should first undergo a reality check if it is really doable [to lose the Taiwan market],” said Gan.
He noted that OFWs in Taiwan are mostly unskilled workers, which would make them difficult to redeploy to other countries, especially since the international demand is mostly for skilled ones.
“If we consider the OFWs leaving Libya, the government will surely experience difficulty redeploying those that would come from Taiwan. What will happen is that they will just join the ranks of unemployed here in the country.”