One out of 10.

This is how Migrante International rates the performance of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration in giving assistance to overseas Filipino workers and their families.

Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairperson lamented that the OFWs’ situations have deteriorated despite the government’s declarations of improved welfare and services for them.

Martinez said that in the past two years, they have documented and facilitated 5,000 cases involving victims of government neglect, overcharging and illegal recruitment.

For this year, he said that there are already 300 cases recorded. 

Despite the huge contribution of the OFWs’ remittance to the country’s economy, Martinez said that they still remain as the neglected sector.

Martinez also lamented that the number of OFWs and OFWs on death row continue to rise because of the negligence of the Philippine government’s agencies abroad.

He said that most of these cases are in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

“Lantaran na ang illegal recruitment pero, hindi pa rin nila mahuli-huli ang mga illegal recruiter na to,” he said in an interview over Aksyon Radyo.

Martinez was here in Iloilo for the 2-day Church-Migrant Conference in Mensa Domini Formation Center in Pavia, Iloilo which opened yesterday.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Aside from negligence and illegal recruitment, Martinez also said that the number of victims of human trafficking continue to rise.

He noted that most of these cases are from the Visayas and Panay. 

Recently, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10364 or the "Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012."

RA 10364 increases funding for government agencies involved in the fight against human trafficking including the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Labor and Employment.

According to Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report prepared by the US State Department, the Philippines is one of the "countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards."*