Jinggoy seeks DFA, DOLE help for undocumented OFWs in EU

SENATE Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada yesterday warned that some 94,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Europe are facing imprisonment and a lifetime ban for being undocumented workers as he called on the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Labor to appeal to the European Union for a "regularization scheme" for the undocumented OFWs.

"We are not condoning the act by some of our kababayans who, because of dire need of decent-paying jobs which our country has not been able to provide them, enter and stay as undocumented workers in the EU or in any other foreign country. However, our government must not just allow them to be detained there and, after deportation, consequently slapped with a re-entry ban," he said.

Estrada, concurrent chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, noted that the illegal OFWs would be badly hit by the new immigration measure against "irregular migrants" recently passed on first reading by the EU parliament.

The measure will be enforced 24 months after its final adoption, detaining violators for up to 18 months, deporting them and banning them, including their children, form reentry.

"Our government, through the DFA and DOLE, still has at least 24 months to come up with a solution to this predicament affecting Filipino migrant workers again. In those 24 months, it should aggressively exert all efforts to assist our kababayans. Specifically, it should push for the regularization by Europe of these undocumented Filipino workers," Estrada said.

The new measure is reportedly part of the EU's move to ensure that only regular migrants, to be issued Blue Cards, could work and live in Europe for long periods of time.

Based on DFA records, there are at least 610,102 Filipinos in Europe as of June 2007, of which 189,023 are permanent residents, 189,023 temporaries, and 94,113 undocumented. - Dennis Gadil