Tuesday, February 27, 2007
OFW news - mostly good
A Pinay nanny who saved her employer's children from a garage fire was rewarded with a $25,000 gift for the education of her own child, the Inquirer reports. The consulate in NY found out about her heroic deed when her employers, a Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Wood, accompanied her to replace her passport which was lost in the blaze.
While I certainly agree with the enforcement of a $400 wage (not very much when you factor in living and traveling costs), the recruiters do have a point - most people who leave the country do so because of the opportunities, regardless of rules. Certainly someone offered $350 a month to drive a truck through Iraq, when facing zero employment prospects at home won't let a little thing like a POEA exit permit stop him. I just hope this doesn't mean that more people will be driven underground into the grey and black markets, where the scum of the earth do prey on vulnerable people (maids and nannies especially).
Still, things are looking up. Someday we will come home, and live like Kings. He says, typing from a business park in a country town in the back water of England.
In other news, apparently the Philippine government is enforcing a minimum $400 monthly wage for all new contracts approved by the Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). Predictably, the recruiters who send most of our OFWs abroad complained it would hit our competitiveness as an exporter of labor, and would also distort semi skilled salaries in the Gulf States.The Woods acknowledged her heroism and her quick thinking, saying they would be “forever grateful” to her. “The $25,000 was not a reward but was meant for the education of Hazel’s son. She took care of our most precious possession -- our children,” they said.
Rebong also reported that Reposo, 30, had worked as a nanny since November 2003. Though a Business Management graduate of the University of Negros Occidental-Recolectos, Reposo left the country for her five-year-old son’s sake to work in Bermuda together with her parents and two siblings.
While I certainly agree with the enforcement of a $400 wage (not very much when you factor in living and traveling costs), the recruiters do have a point - most people who leave the country do so because of the opportunities, regardless of rules. Certainly someone offered $350 a month to drive a truck through Iraq, when facing zero employment prospects at home won't let a little thing like a POEA exit permit stop him. I just hope this doesn't mean that more people will be driven underground into the grey and black markets, where the scum of the earth do prey on vulnerable people (maids and nannies especially).
Still, things are looking up. Someday we will come home, and live like Kings. He says, typing from a business park in a country town in the back water of England.
Labels: news, philippines
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