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By Nora O. Gamolo, OFW Times Editor
Human rights (HR) lawyers called for a more
support measures to overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in the forum on
“Increasing access to justice: Bridging gaps and removing
roadblocks” organized by the Supreme Court on June 30 and July 1.
Access to justice is defined by the United
Nations Development Program as “the ability of a people to seek
and obtain a remedy through formal and informal institutions of
justice, and in conformity with human rights standards.”
The forum brought together almost 400 people
from HR and lawyers groups, government and nongovernment
organizations, local government units, and development funding
groups.
Atty. Carlos P. Medina, head of the secretariat
working on the Asean human rights mechanism project and Ateneo law
professor, said that the judiciary should undertake policy reforms,
build the capabilities of practitioners, and make litigation costs
affordable, if not free, for the poor.
He also suggested that judges should be educated
on issues concerning migrant workers and support be given to lawyers
handling migrant workers’ cases.
Many OFWs have brought complaints against
illegal recruiters or those who have violated their work contracts.
Many of them, like the 27-odd Sentoza nurses in the United States,
have lost in the regular and quasijudicial courts, occasionally on
technicalities.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno reminded participants
that the judiciary is expected to “discharge its constitutional
role as protector of the human rights of our people” and has
called on them to discuss the people’s socioeconomic rights within
the framework of a “democratic, republican regime,” rather than
“the auspices of an autocratic, dictatorial regime.”
The forum, he said, is a way of getting direct
suggestions from the people for the court to better fulfill its
mandate while promoting and protecting people’s human rights.
Nimfa Melegrito, a former OFW, reminded
the courts of the requirements of RA 8042, which mandates that
courts should ensure poor people’s access to justice. Speaking on
her experience as a dressmaker in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, she
complained that her employer violated her contract by giving her
lower pay and refusing to allow her to return to the country after
her two-year contract is over. She was forced to work for an extra
five more months, also at lower rates.
With assistance from the migrant support group
Kanlungan Center Foundation, she filed a case with the National
Labor Relations Commission. It forced her to use her hard-earned
savings to file her case and process documents. However, she lost
the case, for which she appealed.
Atty. Leila de Lima, head of the Commission on
Human Rights, said that people are a critical source of information,
but added that aside from the “high cost of justice,” people are
also hampered by other barriers like illiteracy, lack of awareness
and “support in challenging powerful interests,” limited
communication, fear of formal institutions like the courts, and fear
of reprisal and social ostracism.
She also called for the use of gender-sensitive
language in the courts, conduct of gender sensitivity trainings for
duty holders in the justice system, and provision of support for
women victims of abuse in the domestic setting to enable them to
pursue cases.
Many OFWs are women. Statistics indicate that
women OFWs now outnumber the men OFWs.
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