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The Philippine Nurses Association’s President Dr. Leah Samaco
Paquiz on Saturday expressed concern over the bill filed by Rep.
Ignacio Arroyo to keep professionals, including nurses and doctors,
from leaving for jobs abroad without first working in the
Philippines for at least two years.
Did he file the bill because of government
claims that Filipino professionals have become the bigger component
of OFW deployments? If so, then he is wrong. The bigger segment is
still laborers and unskilled workers.
The Philippine Medical Association expressed
opposition but its vice-president did not elaborate because the PMA
still had to actually learn from Arroyo what he really wants and
what his proposed bill says.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)
opposed Arroyo’s House Bill 4580.
“We consider the bill absolutely unfair and
highly discriminatory, because it singles out registered
professionals,” said former senator and TUCP secretary-general
Ernesto Herrera.
Negros Oriental’s Rep. Arroyo, the
President’s brother-in-law, authored the bill with the aim of
discouraging Filipino professionals from leaving the country. He
expressed concern that the health and education sector may end up
not having enough teachers and professionals if RP graduates
continue to go abroad to work for high pay.
His proposed law covers doctors, nurses,
pharmacists, midwives, medical technologists, physical therapists,
engineers, teachers, sailors, accountants, interior designers,
nutritionists and criminologists, librarians, guidance counselors
and master plumbers. These are all in the Professional Regulatory
Commission’s category of “registered professionals.”
Herrera questioned the government’s authority
to restrain professionals from leaving.
He was joined by human rights lawyers
interviewed by The Manila Times. They told us people couldn’t be
prevented to leave the country if they want to.
Herrera has submitted his, the TUCP’s,
position paper to the House and the Senate, petitioning the House
Committee on Labor and Employment to reject Arroyo’s bill.
“We have a huge glut of professionals in many
sectors. In the case of nurses, the main reason they are leaving the
country is because wages here are grossly inadequate. And the pay is
meager, precisely because of the massive surplus of nurses. This is
the law of supply and demand at work,” Herrera said.
The TUCP official said preventing nurses from
leaving the country would further create a huge surplus and lower
their wages to a minimum.
Herrera said that nurses comprise the biggest
group of professionals leaving the country. Every year, more than
21,000 Filipino nurses seek employment in the US alone.
He added that the Philippines has been producing
more than 132,000 nurses every year.
Nurses’ salary increase law
Dr. Paquis explained that nurses, doctors and
other professionals would not leave the country is they were paid
properly.
Since 2002, she said, because of, Republic Act
9173, also known as the Nursing Act of 2002, the salaries of nurses
should have been not lower than the government’s salary grade 15.
“This is clear in Section 32 that ‘in order to enhance the
general welfare, commitment to service and professionalism of
nurses, the minimum base pay of nurses working in public health
institution shall not be lower than salary grade 15,’ ” she
pointed out.
“It has been six years since the law was
enacted. It has not been implemented,” she complained.
“Under the law, a nurse in the
government should be receiving a monthly salary of P16,093, but many
nurses are still receiving way below this legal monthly salary. Some
are receiving less than P10,000 monthly income. How do we expect
these nurses to remain in government service with this kind of
salary?” asked Paquiz. She points out that while salary is not the
only reason why nurses serve, she recognizes that the foreign
employment conditions are much better than here.”
Absolutely unfair
“We consider the bill absolutely unfair and
highly discriminatory, because it singles out registered
professionals,” said TUCP’s Herrera, a Manila Times columnist.
Herrera doubts the government’s capability to
enforce the law.
“How is the government actually going to
require compliance, when it is not in position to physically bar
professionals from leaving the country,” he asked.
Like Herrera, other commentators question the
wisdom of Rep. Arroyo’s proposal, considering that there is large
surplus of professionals in many sectors of the labor market.
“We have a huge glut of professionals in many
sectors. In the case of nurses, the main reason they are leaving the
country is because wages here are grossly inadequate. And the pay is
meager precisely because of the massive surplus of nurses. This is
the law of supply and demand at work,” the former senator noted.
Annually, around 21,000 nurses leave the country
to seek employment in the United States and Europe, which are
considered the highest paying market for nurses globally.
Both the nursing and medical associations
question why nursing and physicians’ positions all over the
country are vacant.
Why is the government not filling these up?
If nurses are hired to take these jobs, some of
them who would rather not leave their parents in the Philippines
will stay.
Some are surprised why there seems to be a
frenzy to hold professionals in the country when in fact the
majority of OFWs deployed continue to be laborers and unskilled
workers.
NSO statistics
According to the government’s National
Statistics Office the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who
worked abroad at anytime during the period April to September 2007
was registered at 1.75 million. This represents an increase of 15.3
percent over the estimated 1.52 million OFWs in April to September
2006.
Out of the total OFWs during the period April to
September 2007, 92.4 percent (1.61 million) were Overseas Contact
Workers (OCWs) or those with existing work-contact abroad. The
number of OCWs in April to September 2007 went up by 16.6 percent
over the 1.38 million OCWs estimated for the same months in 2006.
The largest number of OFWs is in age group 25
to 29 years old
There were more male OFWs (50.9 percent) than
females (49.1 percent) during the period April to September 2007.
More than half (55.2 percent) of the OFWs were below 35 years old,
the largest number (24.5 percent of total OFWs) was recorded in age
group 25 to 29 years. Female OFWs were generally younger compared to
male OFWs. Of the total number of female OFWs, 28.8 percent belonged
to age group 25 to 29 years and 21.3 percent were in age group 30 to
34 years. Meanwhile, male OFWs were almost evenly distributed among
the age groups 25 to 29 (20.3 percent), 30 to 34 (20 percent) and 45
years and over (22.8 percent).
Saudi Arabia remains the favorite destination
of OFWs
Saudi Arabia remained to be the favorite
destination of OFWs comprising 19.8 percent of the total OFWs who
worked abroad in April to September 2007. More than one in 10 (12.1
percent) OFWs were in the United Arab Emirates. Those who worked in
Europe accounted for 9.2 percent, slightly lower than those in North
and South America at 9.3 percent. Other popular destinations
included Hong Kong (6.7 percent), Singapore (6 percent), Japan (5.6
percent) and Taiwan (5.5 percent).
Laborers and unskilled workers top major
occupation group
One out of three (35 percent) OFWs in April to
September 2007 were laborers and unskilled workers, which include
domestic helpers, cleaners and manufacturing laborers. During the
same months in 2007, those who worked as service workers and shop
and market sales workers made up 14.3 percent; trades and related
workers, 13.8 percent; and plant and machine operators and
assemblers, 13.4 percent.
Remittances in April to September 2007 total
P110 billion
OFWs sent a total remittance of 110 billion
pesos for the period April to September 2007, an increase of 8
billion pesos (7.7 percent) from the estimated remittance of 102
billion pesos for the same months in 2006. Included in the total
remittances are cash sent (74.6 percent), cash brought home (20.7
percent) and remittances in kind (4.7 percent). Of the total cash
remittance sent for the period April to September 2007, 76.8 percent
were sent through bank, 14 percent were sent through door-to-door
and the rest (9.2 percent) were sent through the agency and or local
office, friends and or co-workers and other means. OFWs working in
Asia, comprising 78.1 percent of all OFWs, sent the biggest cash
remittance of 57.7 billion pesos. Among occupation groups, OFWs
working as laborers or unskilled workers posted the highest cash
remittance of 17.6 billion pesos.
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