EDITORIAL - Join Congress, see the world

Filipino workers toil under conditions of “virtual slavery” in Saudi Arabia, according to a congressional delegation that went to the Middle Eastern kingdom ostensibly on a fact-finding mission. The group, led by Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello and Democratic Independent Workers Association party-list Rep. Emme-line Aglipay, released a report about what they saw during their five-day “fact-finding” visit. With Bello were other members of the House committee on overseas workers’ affairs, Compostela Valley Rep. Carmen Zamora-Apsay and COOP-NATCCO party-list Rep. Cresente Paez.

The report is interesting but contained nothing that the nation doesn’t already know. Diplomatic and labor personnel have been submitting similar reports for many years to their home offices in Manila. Many Filipinos are aware of the difficult working conditions, and several sensational stories about the abuse of Filipino workers in the Middle East have been reported. Yet Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle Eastern countries have remained among the top destinations for Filipino workers, who are lured by the high pay offered by employers in the region.

There are several other countries with large populations of Filipino workers. From Iceland to Antarctica, Filipinos are all over the planet. Will Filipino taxpayers soon be footing the bill for lawmakers who want to conduct a first-hand inquiry into the plight of those workers? The government has diplomatic missions precisely to do that job. In addition, there is the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration whose mandate is clearly stated in its name. And lawmakers conduct enough inquiries on every imaginable issue right in Manila.

Before this becomes institutionalized, congressional leaders must put the brakes on this latest sorry excuse for a junket. Lawmakers who want to find out the plight of Filipinos in any particular country can conduct an inquiry right in the Senate or the House of Representatives, with officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the OWWA as resource persons. If lawmakers want to see the world, they should do it in their own time and at their own expense.