OFWs to pay price for weak launder law

Arlene Afable endures overzealous drunks and constant sexual propositions as a dancer in Japan so she can send money home to her family in the Philippines.

But she worries her hard-earned wages could face costly delays if the Philippines is hit with financial sanctions by a global watchdog for not strengthening its money-laundering law.

Afable is one of seven to eight million nurses, engineers, maids and entertainers who have left for North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asian countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore to improve the lives of their relatives back home.

In a country where a third of the 80 million population live on about P100 a day, the flow of money — worth a record $7 billion last year — can mean the difference between survival and destitution. Afable’s regular remittances feed, clothe and house her two sons and elderly mother. Sanctions putting international banking transactions under scrutiny would make their lives far tougher.

Manila has until March 15 to come up with a tougher dirty-money law to placate the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but some banks are not waiting for sanctions to bite. Several in the United States and Canada have halted correspondent services with the Philippines.

The dirty-money difficulties could not come at a worse time for the Philippines, with fears that thousands of workers in the Middle East may be forced to return home if war erupts in Iraq.

The region accounts for as much as 12 percent of the money sent back each year.

The cash-strapped government, which is battling to contain its budget deficit and collect enough tax, would be hard-pressed to take care of the displaced workers and do without the economic benefits of the remittances from the Middle East.

Those in the private sector fret that tougher scrutiny of offshore transactions will ratchet up business costs, delay export payments and scare off foreign investors.

Noel Josue, who heads a non-governmental organization helping Filipinos working abroad, said slower remittances and higher fees would cause real pain for families at home, including his own.

"I will be affected as my wife works in Texas as a teacher and she is the main breadwinner in our family," he said.

"Long delays could cause us a lot of trouble paying bills like power and phone and it might even mean our children may have to stop schooling."