Pinoys face stricter immigration rules in Italy

MANILA, Philippines – Italy’s Parliament on Wednesday gave final approval to a security package that toughens rules on illegal immigration. Some 20,000 Filipinos in Italy are believed to be undocumented.

The bill was passed as a response to street crime that Italians blame mainly on foreigners.

It was passed by a wide margin in the Senate and includes increasing jail sentences by a third for offenders who are also illegal immigrants and expelling any foreigner who has been sentenced to more than two years in prison.

The package also raises from 60 days to 18 months the time authorities can keep clandestine migrants in temporary holding centers while trying to send them back to their country of origin.

If expulsion procedures fail and the migrant is released with an order to leave the country, being caught again can bring a jail sentence of up to four years under the new law. The bill also makes it a crime to rent an apartment to an illegal immigrant.

The Philippine government maintained yesterday that the new immigration rules would not affect the employment of Filipinos in that European country.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Rosalinda Baldoz cited that most Filipino workers there are documented.

“Most of our workers there have the necessary visas and return home as soon as their visas have expired,” Baldoz said.

She, however, admitted that there are undocumented Filipino workers in Italy, a popular tourist destination for Filipinos, who enter the country on tourist visas.

“There are Filipinos who use tourist visas to go there but opt to stay and work. But we do not have the exact figure right now,” Baldoz said.

The Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO) reported that there are close to 130,000 Filipinos staying in Italy. Of the figure, about 20,000 are said to be undocumented workers.

Earlier, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque expressed confidence that the new immigration rules approved by various countries in the European Union would not lead to the displacement of illegal Filipino migrants there.

Roque pointed out that stricter immigration rules have been implemented in the past but did not affect the employment of Filipino workers.

The new measures were previously approved by the lower house of the Italian Parliament with the conservative forces of Premier Silvio

Berlusconi enjoying a comfortable majority in both chambers.

Berlusconi won April elections amid promises to crack down on crime, which Italians increasingly link to foreigners and especially clandestine migrants.

The center-left opposition voted against the package, concerned mainly by the move to make illegal immigration an aggravating circumstance, a measure it says is discriminatory. – AP, Mayen Jaymalin