Remember Flor Contemplacion, militant OFW groups say

This story was taken from www.inq7.net

Remember Flor Contemplacion, militant OFW groups say
First posted 06:14pm (Mla time) Mar 17, 2006
By INQ7.net

THIS Friday is the 11th death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion, the Filipina domestic helper who was sentenced to death for killing another Filipina maid and her ward in Singapore.

And overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong said the lack of job opportunities in the Philippines that led Contemplacion to seek work abroad and the inequitable situation of OFWs abroad continue.

In a statement e-mailed to various media outfits, the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil), together with Migrante Hong Kong, said some 3,000 Filipinos would leave for jobs abroad every day.

Unifil head Dolores Balladares said, “Under the government of GMA [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo], OFWs are treated as mere money-makers. We are nothing but exports for GMA to generate the income that she needs to keep herself in Malacañang,” she said.

She said the President must look after the welfare of OFWs who “die abroad, abused by employers, are unjustly jailed, or get victimized by illegal recruiters.”

Balladares cited the case of OFWs in Hong Kong and said that the Arroyo administration did not support their campaign for a wage increase or their demand for the scrapping of the authentication fee as part of the consular services of the Philippine consulate in the former British colony.

She said that her group was gearing up for an intensified campaign in Hong Kong to involve Filipino migrants in the ouster of the President.