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Click to Access the US Embassy Information URL in the Philippines.   This is a MUST DO for all  travelers to the Philippines.  You'd be surprised at the abundance of information you must know while traveling in the Philippines.

Note:  This article came from the Gabriela Net, a movement headed by a QCHS graduate (class of 1962 - Nina Rosca, aka Ninotska Rosca):  This is not an endorsement of their movement.

Filipinas Not For Sale! End the Export of Filipinas!

More than half a million men and women leave the Philippines every year to work overseas. For women, this work consists primarily of ‘unskilled’ and poorly paid jobs like domestic work and prostitution. The ‘mail-order bride’ industry is also a significant factor in this export of women. In many cases, living in a foreign country entails cultural alienation, discrimination and often, physical abuse.

The choice to leave one’s home is not one that is made freely. Filipinos are compelled to work in foreign countries for economic reasons, most of the time, for reasons of sheer survival. Overseas Filipinos invariably send their earnings to support families back home, who are crucially dependent on this income.

Financial remittances come at sometimes deadly costs. Flor Contemplacion, Sarah Balabagan, Maricris Sioson — 3 names that exemplify what can happen and what does happen to our women. Their fates also illustrate vividly how unwilling the Philippine Government is when it comes to defending its own citizens. The Government did nothing when Maricris Sioson was killed in Japan with a sword
thrust through the vagina. It failed to stop the execution of Flor Contemplacion in Singapore, and now allows Sarah Balabagan to be fined $41,000 by the United Arab
Emirates for killing her rapist-employer.  Government inaction is hardly a surprise. This export of human beings is a key economic strategy of the Government. Begun in the 1970s by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino male workers were sent to the Middle East. The foreign currency
they earned was needed to pay the interest on loans which the Marcoses were starting to accumulate.

Since then, live human bodies have become the top export of the Philippines, outstripping electronics, garments, agricultural products and other traditional exports. Each year, some 2 million overseas contract workers remit $7 billion to the Philippines.

These workers pay fees to recruiters, insurance fees, processing fees, passport fees and taxes to the Philippine government. They have become the prime milking cow of
a corrupt government, some of whose diplomatic officials are involved in the labor market and the sex trade.

Ramos’s Philippines 2000 Development Plan will continue and enshrine the evils started by the Marcos Regime. Philippines 2000 relies on:• enclaves for multinational corporations where companies are exempt from labor,
pollution and tax laws • increased export of labor, so that interest on loans can be paid to the IMF/World
Bank • opening the entire archipelago to tourism development, in conjunction with allowing the US military access to 22 Philippine ports.  Thus labor export is accompanied by the intensified exploitation of workers in the Philippines. Not content with our women becoming prostitutes and sex toys overseas, the Ramos Government has escalated prostitution within the country. Ramos has
signed an agreement allowing US ships to dock anywhere in the archipelago for ‘rest and recreation.’
From:  Gabriela

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Medicare

Executive Order No. 195 and Department of Labor and Employment Order No. 37 (series of 1994)
mandates a compulsory medical care coverage to Filipino OCWs. The Philippine Overseas and
Employment Administration (POEA) also issued Memorandum No. 70, providing for the guidelines for the
medical care program.

Coverage

1.OCWs who have been recruited and placed by licensed manning agencies;
2.Those recruited and placed by the POEA;
3.Name hires;
4.Vacationing OCWs;

Exemption

The provisions of the POEA circular does not apply to seafarers and land-based workers who are active
members of the Philippine's Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System.

Beneficiaries

1.OCW medicare members
2.Legal dependents of members, including:
1.Legitimate spouse who is not a medicare member;
2.Unmarried and unemployed, legitimate, legitimated, acknowledged children as appearing in
the birth certificate, legally adopted or stepchildren below 21 years old;
3.Children who are suffering from congenital disability either physical or mental, or any
disability acquired below 21 years old that renders them totally dependent upon the members
for support;
4.Parents who are over 60 years old whose income is less than P1,000 per month.

Entitlement

Beneficiaries shall be entitled to benefits under the medicare program if he has paid at least one year
contribution within the immediate three (3) month-period prior to the first day of confinement.

Benefits include:

1.Maximum of 45 confinement days in a year, if confined in a hospital on account of sickness or injury
requiring hospitalization;

2.Allowances for the expenses, including: hospital room and board; medical expenses, professional
fees; operating room fees; and surgical family planning procedures.

Specific Procedures

1.OCWs will fill up the OCW Medicare Information Sheet (MIS). Accomplished form will be
evaluated by the Medicare Registration Center.

2.Pay a premium of not more than P900 per member for a year's coverage. A corresponding proof of
payment shall be issued.

3.Workers seeking exemptions for the compulsory medical coverage are required to attach certificate
of active SSS/GSIS Voluntary membership status.


Acknowledgements

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) attributes the realization of the 3rd Edition of the Handbook
on Filipinos Overseas to the following:

Mr. Rey Ciocon: formulation of value and belief system for the Global Filipinos
Mr. Bernardino Ronquillo, The Year in the Philippine Business, Fookien Times Philippines Yearbook
1994
Philippine Business Report, Economy Grows in the 1st Quarter, Trade and Industry Information
Center
Board of Investments (BOI)
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Bureau of Immigration (BI)
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)
Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA); and Pag-IBIG Fund

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Japan as a Destination for Filipino Diaspora (I was a frequent traveler to Japan when I was still in the military and those trips included going to the night strips outside the military base in Yokota, Japan.  In 1967 when I first went to Japan, I   remember the clubs with young Japanese women in them.  Nowadays, they were replaced by young Filipinas.  I chose to publish this article from the Philippine Women's League because of my personal knowledge of the facts, and also because many of our classmates and their daughters may have gone "Japayuki")
Japan, because of its very protective immigration policy, was not a popular destination for Filipino migration. The exodus to Japan started only after Japanese nationals began marrying Filipino women they met in bars and clubs in the Philippines during the tourism boom in the mid-'70's. The Philippines became a destination for Japanese sex tours when Taiwan closed Peitou, a spa known for its brothels, to Japanese tourists after it broke diplomatic ties with Japan. These Filipino women pioneered what would be known as "Philippine pubs," which took over the popularity of the "pink bars and no-pan (for no panties) kisas." Soon after, Filipino bargirls became in demand. To make their entry to Japan legal, Philippine government officials connived with recruiters in petitioning the Japanese immigration to grant them the same work permits given to legitimate Filipino entertainers, who used to have a monopoly of Japanese clubs and discotheques Filipino women began to be a subject of yellow journalism, or the Japanese version of a media blitz, when police started raiding brothels and clubs and finding among the arrested prostitutes Filipino girls as young as 12 years old. They became famous especially after a Japanese journalist called them "Japayuki," a word rhyming with "karayuki," a term for Japanese women sold to brothels abroad before World War II, even though they were not the only foreigners engaging in prostitution in Japan.  For all the slur on Filipino women, the mercenary Philippine government kept silent and continued to supply Japanese houses of
ill repute with young girls from all parts of the Philippines. Much to the disappointment of both Japanese and Filipino anti-prostitution groups, the trafficking of Filipino prostitutes to Japan was continued even during the Aquino administration, which willingly accepted a special quota of 40,000 entertainers a year as Japanese aid to Philippine economic recovery. Exploitation of Filipino Migrant Workers.  Meanwhile, groups calling themselves non-governmental organizations (NGO'S) found a gold mine in the Japayuki issue, even getting free publicity for their less popular causes like the abolition of the Emperor system. The so-called "Japayuki problem" or exploitation of Filipino women and other foreign nationals who flocked to Japan to cater to the baser instincts of Japanese men, whether willingly or otherwise, became a favortie topic of workshops, symposiums and seminars conducted by Japanese groups of all colors.   Not to be outshone were Filipino dissidents particularly those based in Hong Kong. They transferred most of their operations to Japan when they discovered that they could subsidize their guerrilla activities in the Philippines with donations from gullible Japanese, who did not know what to do with their rising yen.  Filipino dissidents operated as lay missionaries under the protection of a council of Christian churches, which had adopted a new
order of social justice. Because of the religious freedom guaranteed by the Japanese constitution, Japanese authorities were unable to take action against them and deport them from Japan even when they were engaging in subversive activities. The only
exception was a Filipino introducing himself as a priest, who was barred from reentering Japan when police confirmed his connections with the New People's Army (NPA) and ultraleftist Japanese groups. 

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"A Case of Extortion"
To legitimize their continued existence in Japan even after the excitement on the Japayuki problem subsided, the Filipino dissidents began rallying behind them the fast-increasing domestic helpers and construction workers. An example was a Filipino
household help hired by the wife of a U. S. diplomat.
The group or groups supporting the Filipino maid claimed that she had been defrauded of 3 million yen in back salaries. According to a witness, however, the maid started complaining about her monthly salary of $300, which when converted to Philippine peso would be higher than the monthly wage of a Manila police sergeant, only after allegedly comparing notes with veteran Filipino domestic helpers of expatriates and listening to a Filipino lay missionary harping about social injustice, etc. barely
three months after she arrived in Japan.  The root of the problem was actually a policy adopted by the POEA representative in Tokyo. Expatriates, mostly executives of foreign companies, were being forced to accept a standard minimum monthly wage of Y150,000 for the Filipino domestic helpers. The Japanese Immigration Bureau, on the other hand, had exempted foreign diplomats, who could not pay the Y150,000 montly fee being imposed by the POEA, from following even the labor standard set by the Ministry of Labor of Japan, thus, resulting in
what would become a standard pattern of the so-called "double contracts."   The maid herself admitted to a Japanese reporter her having two contracts, one that she agreed with her employers, and the other for facilitation purposes as suggested by the Philippine labor attache in Tokyo, who was either ignoring standard Japanese procedure or simply ignorant of the exemption granted to diplomats. According to a source close to the Philippine embassy in Tokyo, the U. S. diplomat and his Filipino wife were chosen to be a test case in a conspiracy between the Filipino lay misionary and the Philippine labor attache, who was desperately looking for something to divert public attention on her. At that time, the labor attache was under investigation because of an expose by Japanese reporter on her alleged anomalous activities.  So, instead of reporting the U. S. diplomat and his wife to the Philippine labor office in Tokyo, which had in principle more legitimate claim and jurisdiction on her case, the maid tried in vain to sue them in a Japanese court with the help of a volunteer Japanese lawyer, who would customarily be paid in a contingency. Overnight, the Filipino maid became a celebrity especially when her supporters demonstrated in front of the U.S. embassy. Among the demonstrators were priests and nuns led by the Filipino lay missionary, who was photographed with a megaphone in her hand.  Meanwhile, even without obtaining a proper release from her formeremployers, the maid found employment somewhere else. When questioned about the kind of temporary permit granted her with documents obviously obtained through fraudulent means, the
Immigration Bureau in Yokohama, replied that it was simply an accommodation. Since then, the maid has been reported to have married a Japanese in order to legalize her stay in Japan. 

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Filipinos Among the Most Undesirable Aliens in Japan
The sudden emergence of Japan as a world economic power and the so-called "bubble economy" brought illegal migrants to Japanese shores, among them were Filipino workers. Most of them were returnees from the Middle East who were diverted to Japan after the Aquino government failed to give them jobs. By 1988, the Filipinos would be number one in the list of undesirable aliens in Japan. At one time, the number of illegal entrants from the Philippines even reached 80,000 according to the statistics of the Japanese Immigration Bureau although later survey revealed that the figure could be lesser considering the number of returnees with tampered passports and multiple identities.  To stop the influx of illegal Filipino migrant workers to Japan, who were being exploited by underworld gangs and getting involved in various crimes, the Japanese government invited Filipino officials to Japan. However, the Japanese hosts reportedly walked out en masse when the Filipino visitors started counterproposing another special quota for Filipino unskilled laborers. 

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Are Filipino Migrants Innocent Victims of Exploitation?
Contrary to claims by supporters of illegal foreign migrant workers in Japan, majority of the illegal Filipino migrants are not innocent but willing victims of exploitation by both Filipino and Japanese recruiters. Despite stories like that of Maricris Sioson, Filipino women continue to audition for jobs in bars and clubs in Japan. Sioson was a Filipino bar hostess whose death was sensationalized by the Philippine media when a pathologist of the National Bureau of Investigation mistook incisions made by
embalmers for stabs. Sioson actually died of a fatal kind of hepatitis aggravated by an overdose of drugs and alcohol.
In most cases, Filipino women deployed to Japan as entertainers end up being prostitutes. Even when their work permits are valid, they are forced to take clients in a system called "dohan" (meaning, "pairing.") or they are fined. Also, to insure that they
stay in their jobs, their salaries are not given to them until their permits to stay in Japan expire. So, to earn extra money, they agree to go out with customers, who eventually end up being their lovers resulting also in the fast-increasing number of illegitimate
children.  Repercussions of a Fallacious Policy

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The Philippine government claims that more than half of the country's foreign reserves come from remittances of overseas workers. Thus, regardless of whether they are legal or illegal, criminal or not, the workers have been called "unsung heroes" and bestowed various accolades. However, remittances of contract workers especially in Japan are coursed through door-to-door services. Considering the fact that they are not authorized foreign exchange dealers and are in fact engaging in black market, it is unlikely that the remittances of the workers really go to the coffers of the Philippine Central Bank.  The policy of the Philippine government to deploy Filipino workers overseas has also caused lots of broken homes and juvenile deliquency. Cohabitation among lonely workers long separated from their families has resulted in the growing number of illegitimate and stateless children. Some are even being abandoned in hospitals because the parents cannot afford to pay the exhorbitant cost of childbirth in Japan.   Lamentably, the children are also being used by so-called "support groups" for their moneymaking campaigns. Illegal Filipino migrant workers are being given false hopes that their children would be their guaranty for permanent residency in Japan. It is for such reason that they do not go to the Philippine Embassy to have their children registered as Filipinos.  The Civil Code of the Philippines guarantees a child's right to be a Filipino if the parents or even just one parent is a Philippine national, but overstaying Filipinos in Japan would rather have their children become stateless and illegal than go to the Philippine
Embassy in Tokyo or the Philippine Consulate in Osaka to register them. In 1996, an overstaying Filipino woman living in Osaka with her illegitimate children was granted a special permit to stay in
Japan after using suing the Japanese government with the support of a Kansai-based NGO. Appalingly, the court failed to recognize the fact that the Filipino woman was using her illicit affair and her children to legitimize her stay in Japan, and that the
court decision has caused havoc on Filipino morality.
Consequently, the Ministry of Justice of Japan can expect more of such cases in its courts from now on with more Filipino women, now lacking morality, likely to follow suit. In addition, with the help of volunteer lawyers, there will likely be an increase in
the number of litigations for and in behalf of the illegal migrant workers.   Likewise, a misinterpretation of a government directive on assistance to nationals has caused a rift between the legal and illegal
Filipino residents in Japan. Those who are assigned to implement them reason out that the Philippine government through its foreign missions abroad are duty bound to protect the welfare and interests of even those who obtain their passports and visas
through fraudulent means and in defiance of both Philippine and Japanese laws.

Deposit Requirements

Age Required Deposit
------------------------- ----------------
50 years old and above US$50,000
35 - 49 years old US$70,000
Former/Overseas Filipinos None

Benefits under the Retirement Program
1.Issuance of a permanent, non-immigrant status with a multiple entry privileges through a special visa
called Special Resident Retiree's Visa (SRRV);
2.Exemption from customs duties and taxes for the importation of $7,000 worth of personal effects,
appliances and household furniture;
3.Exemption from Exit and Re-entry permits;
4.Exemption from payment of travel tax, provided that the retiree has not stayed in the Philippines for more than one year from the date of his last entry into the country;
5.Conversion of the requisite deposit into active investments, including purchase of condominium unit;
6.Tax-free interest on the foreign currency deposit, and payable to the retiree in Philippine Peso;
7.Foreign currency deposit can be converted into peso deposit, but interest is subject to withholding
tax;
8.Guaranteed repatriation of request deposit including invested profits, capital gains and dividends accrued from investments, upon compliance with Central Bank rules and regulations.

For more information write or call:

Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA)
2/f, First Bank Bldg.
371 Gil Puyat Ave., Makati City
Tel. nos: 895-09-29/98/40/82
Fax No. (632) 817-40-41

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Pag-IBIG Fund for Filipino Overseas Workers (FiLOW) Program

The Pag-IBIG Fund

Pag-IBIG Fund is a nationwide savings fund established on December 14, 1980 through Presidential Decree No. 1752. Today, Pag-IBIG is one of the strongest financial institutions in the country with assets of over P21 billion. Active membership stands at 1.3 million nationwide. Total membership base is 2.1 million.

The Pag-IBIG FiLOW Program

The Pag-IBIG Filipino Overseas Worker (Filow) Program aims to provide Filipino overseas workers/immigrants the opportunity to save for their future, while giving them the chance to avail of a housing loan. Maximum loanable amount is P500,000, with interest rates at 9%-17% per annum, depending on the loan package.

Membership Requirements

The FiLOW Program is open to all Filipino overseas workers with valid working visas or employment contracts. Filipino immigrants who are Pag-IBIG members, however, may opt to register under the FiLOW Program or simply maintain their membership.
Schedule of Contributions Per Income Bracket

Monthly Income Monthly Contributions
-------------- ---------------------
Below US$1,000 US$20
Over US$1,000 US$40

Benefits on Savings

1.Fixed dividend earnings of 3% per annum for dollar savings and 7.5% per annum for peso savings
2.Tax-free dividend earnings
3.Savings guaranteed by the Philippine Government
4.Portability, since savings will remain under the same name even after change of employers

The total savings under the program may be withdrawn at the end of 5 to 10 years depending on the option
stated during the registration. Withdrawal of savings before maturity shall be allowed in cases of death,
total disability, insanity, separation from service by reason of health, and permanent departure from country.

Housing Loan Requirements

Loans can be availed for properties in the Philippines only for any of the following purposes:
1.House construction on a lot owned by the borrower
2.Purchase of a lot and construction of a house thereon
3.Purchase of house and lot
4.Home improvement
5.Refinancing of an existing residential loan
6.Redemption of a foreclosed property

The requirements for the availment of the housing loan under the program are:
1.Membership under the FiLOW Program for at least six (6) months
2.At least 12 monthly contributions
3.Not over 70 years old at the date of maturity
4.With legal capacity to enter into a contract and purchase real property under Philippine laws
5.Have not availed of a housing loan except lot purchase with Pag-IBIG fund, either as principal or
co-borrower

Those who earn less than US$1,000 a month may borrow up to P250,000, while those who earn more than
US$1,000 a month may borrow as much as P500,000.

Registration

Filipino overseas workers/immigrants may mail the accomplished application form with a photocopy of their
present work contract to any of the Pag-IBIG Fund offices nationwide or at the following address:

Filipino Overseas Workers (FiLOW) Department
7/F, Atrium of Makati Building
Makati Ave., Makati City, Metro Manila
Tel. Nos. 810-27-16 to 44 loc 333.

Filipino overseas workers on the jobsite can send their application forms, with a photocopy of their present
work contract, to the nearest Philippine Embassy/Consulate or the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration (OWWA) office.

Current Events:  Philippine Retirement