OFWs won P78M in labor claims vs Taiwan employers in 2005

April 06, 2006
Updated 07:58am (Mla time)

Inquirer

FILIPINO workers in Taiwan were granted some 78 million pesos (50 million Taiwan dollars) worth of claims against their brokers and employers with the assistance of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the country’s official representative based in Taipei.

MECO reported in a press statement that the amount represented the workers’ unpaid wages, illegal deductions, tax refunds, excessive fees, savings, and labor insurance benefits in 2005 alone.

MECO Labor Taipei, which is responsible for northern Taiwan, netted the biggest collection last year, helping Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) recover 19.38 million Taiwan dollars (30.42 million pesos) in monetary claims. More than 60,000 of 92,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan are based in the area.

MECO said its offices in Taichung and Kaohsiung helped OFWs recover 13.86 million Taiwan dollars (21.76 million pesos) and 16.30 million Taiwan dollars (25.59 million pesos) in financial claims, respectively.

The data excluded successful cases assisted by the agency but did not involve monetary claims or financial settlements.

“This is just one aspect of the services that we are extending to our OFWs,” said Antonio Basilio, managing director and resident representative of MECO. “Our OFWs are toiling day in and day out to make a decent living, and that sum represented not just their hard-earned wages but (also) the sacrifices that they had made for their families. The least that we could do is to help them get their money back, and to remain vigilant in safeguarding their rights.”

Some OFWs have thanked the MECO for its action. An OFW identified only as Nina wrote MECO Kaohsiung labor representative Elizabeth Recio, expressing gratitude to MECO “for promptly acting on my complaint, and for standing up to my broker who wanted to collect illegal fees from me.”

Another OFW named Mabel recovered more than 50,000 Taiwan dollars (78,500 pesos) in tax refund, excessive fees and leave benefits with MECO’s assistance, the press statement said.

“Today, I (got my refund),” Mabel was quoted in her letter to Recio. “Hopefully, I will be going home soon.”

The MECO labor center in Taipei handled the most number of cases in the fourth quarter of 2005, recovering 6.92 million Taiwan dollars (10.86 million pesos) in monetary claims.

In the first three quarters last year, the center recovered 2.36 million Taiwan dollars (3.71 million pesos), 6.04 million Taiwan dollars (9.48 million pesos), and 4.05 million Taiwan dollars (6.36 million pesos) in financial claims.

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