MikeLigalig.com

By Veronica Uy
Inquirer.net

Despite the government ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Jordan, more than 3,000 went there from January to August this year, Philippine Migrant Rights Watch said Thursday.

PMRW chairman Carmelita Nuqui, who has just arrived from Jordan, said the information was given to her by Philippine Ambassador to Jordan Julius Torres.

The more than 3,000 OFWs who went to Jordan this year are on top of the estimated 8,000 illegally staying Filipinos in the Middle East country as of December 2007.

According to Department of Foreign Affairs figures, of the 22,464 Filipinos in Jordan, 108 are permanent residents, 14,356 are temporary residents, and the rest have irregular status.

Nuqui said most of the illegal Filipino workers in Jordan were able to leave the Philippines because of the so-called “escort” system, where corrupt immigration and airport officials literally shepherd the departing OFW, allowing them to bypass regular checks.

She said the fact that Jordan also issues a visa on arrival emboldens the OFWs and their traffickers into defying the ban.

Nuqui went to Jordan last week and took a look at the state of the OFWs housed at the halfway houses for those who run away from their employers.

She said that contrary to the provisions of the law on migrant workers, most of the OFWs there are idle.

The sheltering workers are provided no activities -- livelihood and skills seminars, or even psychological therapy for those who were abused and raped -- at the halfway houses, she said.

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