MANILA, Philippines — Hong Kong-based overseas Filipino workers continue their call for the government to distribute the promised cash aid to COVID-hit OFWs and those who lost their jobs amid the pandemic and to abolish mandatory fees.
Forty-nine migrant workers organizations and over 20 individuals signed the joint petition dated February 26, recognizing the power of collective action as they commemorate the EDSA People Power revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
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The group is also urging the government to abolish the country’s labor export program, which facilitates the deployment of Filipino workers overseas. The unofficial program was supposed to be a stop-gap measure to provide Filipinos with jobs as the unemployment rate in the country spiked in the 1960s.
However, this also led to consequences such as OFWs being reported harassed or even killed while working abroad.
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Stop disinformation, harassment of OFWs
Among their calls is to also stop to the spread of false information and to stop efforts to revise history, especially details that concern Martial Law, which was declared in 1972.
"Just like in the time of the Martial Law, instead of responding to the needs of the citizens, the government has been prioritizing taxing the poor, violating human rights, intimidation tactics, creating fabricated cases, and red-tagging as well as killing activitists," they said in a statement.
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The group added that OFWs are now also subjected to harassment and OFW groups have also been a target of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). In a bid to combat armed insurgency, the task force has been going after suspected groups and individuals without concrete evidence.
The Human Rights Commission previously said NTF-ELCAC’s practice "violates the constitutional guarantee of presumption of innocence and may have serious implications on the security and movement of individuals."
The group renewed its calls for the government to abolish the NTF-ELCAC and instead use its funds for public services, such as assistance to OFWs who have tested positive for COVID.
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"Even if we are based overseas, OFWs will continue to organize and mobilize so that history will not be completely forgetting and so that truth will continue to prevail," the group said. "At the end of the day, we hope to continue fighting for a free, prosperous, and peaceful democracy."