More in laws, less in budget

He who has less in life should have more in law. That is a legal maxim extracted from American jurisprudence, but was attributed to President Magsaysay, as a propaganda spin for his pro-poor administration policies in the early fifties. This maxim has acquired a new twist these days, with two significant events contemporaneous with the transition between the Arroyo and the Aquino administrations.

On March 8 this year Republic Act 10022 lapsed into law, by PGMA's failure to either approve or veto the latest amendment to the Labor Code of 1974 and the Migrant Workers Act of 1995. The law has granted so many protective shields in favor of our migrant workers, and has instituted so many safeguards against illegal recruitment and trafficking, and imposed many new functions and responsibilities on our diplomats who are tasked with mulifarious tasks related to protection of and assistance to OFWs. When the Aquino Administration took over, however, a major slash in the DFA budget was effected. Thus, some detractors would now say "he who has more laws should have less budget."

Under the new law, there is a mandate on the diplomats to negotiate with countries hosting OFWs some bilateral labor agreements, as a condition for deployment of our migrant workers. These agreements are intended to provide legal and humane safety nets right there in the host countries, that assurances for redress of grievances are put in place, making sure that correct wages are paid, all benefits are granted, hours of work are observed, health and life insurances are procured, and that there are adequate protections for our workers' health, safety and welfare.

These are all good and commendable moves by Congress. But the big question now is: How can all these be implemented with a substantially reduced DFA budget? The budget of DOLE is even smaller. This is now a case of the demands for services is kapantay ay langit. The resources being made available are bato sa buhangin. We are, in effect asking our frontliners to fight a war with toothpicks as weapons. We are sending Don Quixotes to slay the windmills and dragons with slingshots.

Moreover, the Labor Attaches are being asked to open, operate and administer right there in the countries where they are posted, a weekend technical school where OFWs can study and learn a wide array of curricula, ranging from computer technology, culinary arts, care-giving and basic nursing, languages, financial literacy and even basic laws. And there is no additional budget to support all these.

Well, I did run a prototype of this training center in Kuala Lumpur from 2005 to 2008, at no significant cost to government. I was able to convince ten Filipino expats to serve as administrators for free, and 50 OFWs to teach without pay every Sunday. But I doubt if that scheme is sustainable on a long term basis.That is why, this new law, while very supportive of our OFWs, may not fly at all, without the wherewithals needed by the implementors.

I call upon our policy and decision-makers to make sure that our resources should level up to the heights of our dreams. Otherwise, we shall end up making laws that shall turn out to be the greatest source of our frustrations. He who has more laws, should be given more budget. Let us put our money where our hearts are. Or else, just shut up.