More illegal foreign workers caught, TUCP urges senate and house to begin probe

By TUCP
August 13, 2014

QUEZON CITY – With the arrest of 52 more foreign workers allegedly working without valid working permits in Davao City last week, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) urges the Senate and the House of Representatives to act on their pending resolutions calling for a probe in aid of legislation on the matter.

“There is indeed a clear, continuing and growing violation of our domestic laws. The increasing incidence of migrants working in the country without necessary government working permits and without fulfilling other requirements for alien workers has very serious adverse implications not only in the local construction industry, fishing, mining and other industries, but also in the current employment and underemployment situation in the country. This further undermines the job security in the country, as they compete with the already limited jobs generated for the Filipinos in our homeland,” TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

For not having valid working permits, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) rounded up last week 50 Chinese, one British and one Australian working in the construction of coal-fired power plant Therma South Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corporation.

There is also a need to investigate Aboitiz Power Corporation on how were they able to hire the foreigners amid the existence of the law.

In December last year, the BI detained and deported more than 200 foreign workers working in construction sites in Bataan and Batangas provinces after they were discovered to have without working permit.

But on one hand, Tanjusay stressed that the probe, if ever, will also benefit migrant workers in terms of labor standards and working conditions. Illegal migrant workers, he explained, are vulnerable to violation and exploitation of their basic rights as workers as they cannot be provided protection by our laws.

“They are susceptible to being abused for reasons such as their lack of capacity to speak and understand the Filipino language and other exploitative working conditions such as unjust compensation given to them. They should enjoy the freedom from this worst form of modern-day slavery,” Tanjusay said.

Senator Miriam-Defensor Santiago filed Senate Resolution 288 in December 2013 and TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza filed House Resolution 974 on February 2014 to conduct an inquiry aid of legislation on the said matter but neither happened.

Philippine unemployment rates have remained static on the average of 7% the past years. According to the April 2014 Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate was at 7.0% or 2.924 Million of the total labor force of 38,172,006, excluding the typhoon Yolanda stricken areas while 18.2% or 7.0 Million were underemployed, and about 36.9% or 1.078 Million of the unemployed are were college undergraduates and graduates.

The World Bank, through its Philippine Development Report (PDR) released in September 2013, estimates that about 10 million good jobs are needed to be generated per year which includes jobs for about three (3) million people who are unemployed and seven (7) million who are underemployed, and that the government also needs to create employment for another 1.15 million new entrants to the labor force every year from 2013 to 2016.

On the average, the government can only generate about 240,000 new employment opportunities annually which leave most job-seekers with no choice but to either seek employment abroad, remain unemployed, go back to school, or rely on financial support from employed family members for the time being.

“We clearly reiterate that TUCP is not against the entry of foreign workers in the country, but of the adverse impact on our very own workers who are being deprived of potential employment and livelihood opportunities,” Tanjusay added.

Foreign nationals must go through the due process legally mandated by the laws. Under the Department Order No. 12 (Series of 2001) known as the Omnibus Guidelines for the Issuance of Employment Permits of the Department of Labor and Employment, all foreign nationals seeking employment in the Philippines are mandated to apply for an Alien Employment Permit (AEP).