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Pinoy Abroad

Pinoy migrants group to stage 'Zero Remittance Day' Dec. 18


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A migrants group, Migrante International, with members in at least 20 countries will hold a protest action dubbed "Zero Remittance Day" on December 18, International Migrants’ Day.   In a news release, Migrante International said the protest aims to express the overseas Filipino workers' (OFWs) "disgust, dissent, anger and frustrations" over the problems that the Filipino migrant labor sector continues to face under the administration of Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
 
The group said overseas Filipinos from the following countries will hold off the sending of remittances on December 18:
  • Australia, 
  • Hong Kong, 
  • Japan, 
  • South Korea, 
  • Macau, 
  • New Zealand, 
  • Taiwan, 
  • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 
  • Qatar, 
  • Libya, 
  • United Arab Emirates, 
  • Austria, 
  • Belgium, 
  • Denmark, 
  • Italy, 
  • Netherlands, 
  • Switzerland, 
  • United Kingdom, 
  • Canada, and
  • the United States.
"It has been over a year and a half since Aquino assumed office but nothing has come off its([his] po yata mas tama since referring to Aquino, not the administration :) ) promise to ease the burdens of OFWs, much less create jobs at home or raise wages," the group said.
 
“By the power of not sending our own remittances, or delaying it for a day, we call on President Aquino to act with the same haste and zealousness that he did with Arroyo and Corona, to grant us the following demands:
  • No to budget cuts.  Instead, higher state subsidy for direct OFW services under the DFA (Foreign Affairs), DOLE (Labor and Employment), and other concerned agencies;
  • Full audit and investigation of OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) funds, especially those  plundered by Arroyo, and the scrapping of the OWWA Omnibus Policies;
  • Retract  moves to impose mandatory Pag-Ibig, SSS (Social Security System), and insurance fees  and taxes for OFWs;
  • Legal assistance to OFWs on death row and in jail, and massive repatriation of stranded OFWs for Christmas; and
  • A genuine and sustainable reintegration program for returned OFWs,  not on the basis of  loans such as the OWWA P2B Reintegration Package, but as a result of land reform and national industrialization." 
 
On December 18, representatives of Migrante International will also hold a rally in Malacanang to press for their demands. - RJMD/VVP, GMA News
 
Tags: migrants, migrante, overseasfilipinoworkers
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