Fighting for the rights of migrant workers: The case of the Philippines

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Behavioral Sciences

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source Title

Migration for Employment: Bilateral Agreements at a Crossroads

First Page

187

Last Page

202

Publication Date

1-1-2004

Abstract

Over the last 30 years, the welfare and human rights issues confronting the overseas employment programme of the Philippines have increasingly put pressure on government to take concrete steps to ensure that overseas Filipino workers are adequately protected in their countries of destination. One of the ways in which the Philippines has tried to overcome the disadvantages experienced by Filipino workers abroad and to promote their well-being is by entering into bilateral, regional and multilateral arrangements. The government has taken the lead in various international forums to promote migrants' rights. In the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), the Philippines has spearheaded the move to have members of this group of nations establish migrant protection standards. The issue of the welfare and protection of its workers abroad looms large in bilateral relations with other countries, particularly in Asia and the Middle East where an estimated 80% of all its overseas workers are deployed. The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 mandates that the "State shall deploy overseas Filipino workers only in countries where the rights of Filipino migrant workers are protected". The government recognises the existence of any of the following measures as a guarantee on the part of the receiving country that overseas Filipino workers will be protected and that their rights are upheld: • Existing labour and social laws protecting the rights of migrant workers. • Signatory to multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions relating to the protection of migrant workers. • Concluded a bilateral agreement or arrangement with the government protecting the rights of overseas Filipino workers. • Taking positive, concrete measures to protect the rights of migrant workers. However, negotiating formal bilateral labour agreements, including memoranda of understanding (MOU), memoranda of agreement (MOA), maritime agreements and social security agreements (SSA) for the protection and welfare of Filipino workers, has been an extremely tedious and difficult undertaking. Among the most common arguments raised by many receiving countries for their reluctance, if not outright refusal, to enter into any formal agreement with the Philippines is that overseas Filipino workers are subject to the same laws and regulations as nationals; consequently, they do not need any special attention. Labour receiving countries have also argued that since the terms of employment are negotiated by the overseas Filipino workers and private employers or agencies, they do not want to get involved. Moreover, they are concerned that entering into a formal agreement with the Philippines would open the floodgates to proposals for similar agreements from other sending countries, which they are reluctant to entertain. As a result, all that the Philippines obtained from most host countries are informal assurances that Filipino workers will be treated fairly and given the utmost protection. While this remains the case, the Philippines will continue its efforts to forge bilateral agreements with other countries. The number of bilateral labour, social security and maritime agreements into which the Philippines has successfully entered into over the last 30 years attests to the difficulty of such an undertaking. © OECD 2004.

html

Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1787/9789264108684-13-en

Disciplines

Labor and Employment Law | Work, Economy and Organizations

Keywords

Foreign workers, Filipino—Legal status, laws, etc.

Upload File

wf_yes

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS