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Our nurses are wanted everywhere
your news report (“Nursing
students back RP-Japan pact,” September 25, B7) said that the
nursing students who trooped to the Senate were there to show
support for the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
The nursing students referred to in the report were in the Senate to
protest, not to support, the agreement.
The JPEPA, rather than promoting
the interests of Filipino nurses, undermines the dignity of our
profession. Under JPEPA, the qualified Filipino nurse, who finished
a 4-year university degree, passed the nursing board exam and with
three years of experience under her belt, will go to Japan not as a
full-fledged nurse but effectively as a nursing aide to be
supervised by a Japanese nurse. They will be given allowances and
this is not yet clear. This means cheap labor.
Nowhere else in the world are our
Filipino nurses given such a second-class status—not in the United
States, the Middle East or Europe.
We understand that Filipino
nurses will be given three years to pass the Japanese nursing
licensure exam—in Japanese. If they fail, they’ll have to return
home. The language skills required for that exam are so high as to
effectively constitute an unassailable barrier to our entry.
The Japanese Nursing Association
also vigorously opposes the entry of Filipino nurses. They believe
that their benefits and salaries must first be reformed before
allowing the entry of foreign nurses. The coming of Filipinos as
nursing aides will break the hierarchy of their profession.
Our nurses are wanted everywhere
in the world. It is not as though we are wanting in employment
opportunities abroad that we must insist on going to Japan under
even a grossly less attractive offer. If Japan wants our nurses, it
must grant us the same treatment other countries accord to us.
DR. LEAH SAMACO-PAQUIZ
National President, Philippine Nurses Association, Inc.
1663 Benitez Street, Malate, Manila
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