JPEPA discriminates against RP caregivers - CMA

A migrants’ advocacy group has joined the call on senators to junk the Japanese-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), saying the deal is discriminatory to Filipino caregivers. Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), told GMANews.TV on Thursday that the agreement is a bad deal for Filipino health workers, specifically under Chapter 9 pertaining to the movement of nurses and care workers. To become a caregiver in Japan, Sana said, the Filipino must be a college degree holder which is contrary to the requirements to the Japanese that even elementary school graduates can become caregivers. “JPEPA requirements are unrealistic and are quite difficult to comply with. Aside from a diploma in a four-year course in college, the applicant must have a formal (Japanese) language course for six months and training for three years," Sana said. Applicants also need to pass the Japanese board exam for caregivers. Application is limited to one try. If the applicant fails the qualifying examination, she/he must go back to the Philippines. The passing rate for the caregiver exam in Japan is 50.4%, according to Sana. For a maximum stay of four years in Japan, the worker should already have a contract but still cannot work as full-fledged “care worker" but as caregiver aide until all the requirements are met. “The applicant may choose not to take the exams and enroll instead in a training institution in Japan, but at their own expense of more than US$14, 000," the CMA officer revealed. Although there are about 545,000 Japanese caregivers, only 60 percent practice their profession because the job is stressful and very tiring, and they consider the salary as very low. Sana added that 16.2 percent of caregivers in Japan got infected with patients’ diseases in the last two to three years. “There is no shortage of caregivers in Japan. Japanese caregivers opted not to practice their profession because of the risk, work load and low pay. A caregiver has to work night shifts four times a month on the average of 15 hours per shift," she explained. Even if a caregiver earns US$1,525 a month, this is considered low because of high cost of living in Japan. Earlier, Undersecretary Danilo Cruz of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) assured that Filipino health workers will get the same treatment as the Japanese in terms of salaries and benefits. In the recent Senate hearing on JPEPA, Cruz said the government would not accept the agreement if this would result in the exploitation of and discrimination against Filipino health workers. Some senators have already expressed disappointment over JPEPA and predicted it may not pass the Senate. "Let's make sure that all the 'takes' are not just theoretical but real gains for the people. In the same manner, we must make sure that opportunities arising from JPEPA do not come at too steep a price where eventually the negatives would outweigh the positives," said Sen. Mar Roxas, chairman of the trade and industry committee. - Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV