Binay: No apology for diaspora
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By JC BELLO RUIZ MANILA, Philippines — The government has no reason to apologize for the continued diaspora of Filipino workers, said Vice President and Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers' Concerns Jejomar C. Binay. In the opening of the 5th Social Watch Global Assembly Tuesday evening at a Quezon City hotel, Binay said the government cannot prevent "outside migration of Filipinos wishing to work and live abroad just as we cannot prevent the growing number of foreigners wanting to settle in our country." The Vice President made the statement amid criticisms from OFW welfare groups that the government is "too dependent on labor export and the influx of OFW remittances." "The Filipino diaspora has created a huge Filipino community that now spans virtually the entire globe. We cannot, and we must not continue to apologize for it," Binay said, referring to the eight million Filipinos abroad. He stressed that "even as the government and the private sector continue to create good paying jobs within the country," Filipinos cannot be prevented from working and living abroad with a "borderless, globalized world." "There is now a global jobs market where opportunity and excellence have no particular nationalities," he said. Binay said that what the government should do "is to ensure that Filipinos leaving for jobs abroad are equipped with adequate technical skills and the ability to cope with and adapt to the new culture they will encounter in their adopted country." "At the same time, we must continue in collaboration with other labor-exporting countries, to work for an international agreement that would allow family members to join our workers wherever they go. We need this to protect and defend the family from the ruinous social cost that prolonged separation that has visited upon so many OFW families," Binay said. He assured that the government is exerting efforts to enter into bilateral agreements with individual labor-exporting countries to guarantee adequate protection and respect for Filipino workers' rights. Government agencies especially those dealing directly with OFWs, Binay stressed, must exert extra effort to extend to the migrant workers the courtesy, service and respect they deserve as fellow Filipinos and as the new heroes of the Philippine economy. He, however, said that the diaspora of Filipino workers should not result in brain drain for the domestic economy. "As a country with one of the youngest populations in an otherwise ageing and graying world, we have to give our young people the best possible education and training to transform them into our country's primary and most enduring resource," he said. The Social Watch Global Assembly, held from July 13-15, brings together members of Social Watch, along with representatives of national coalitions from over 60 countries. Also in Xiamen Filipino Community Portal http://www.faxiamen.com/news/vice-president-binay-no-apology-for-diaspora/ |
