ADVERTISEMENT
A Filipino father detained at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington, underwent the amputation of a toe after months of alleged medical neglect.
“It is unacceptable for government agencies to ignore this. They are mandated to provide support and protection to our countrymen who are vulnerable to abuse, even murder, outside the country.”
“In an industry where precarious jobs, wage theft, unsafe conditions can be commonplace, where workers — especially migrants, women — face intimidation, fear of reprisal, for speaking up, it is not enough to just be part of a union. We must be part of a community. We only win the fight if we are part of a community,”
Joanna Concepcion, chairperson of Migrante International, said that the Filipino trafficking victims in Cambodia were able to come home because of the persistent efforts and constant follow-ups of their families with various government agencies. Concepcion criticized the government’s process of providing assistance to the victims and how it delayed their return to the Philippines.
"Kuya Max's release is a triumph of the people, not the Philippine government, which had abandoned him and numerous other Filipino migrants to languish in detention."
"Why does it take months of Filipinos suffering and requesting and demanding help for [the Consulate] to come? And why would they continue to make them wait?"
“There must be a full and comprehensive audit of OWWA’s funds because OFWs and the Filipino people have the right to ensure that public funds are used properly and not squandered."
“We demand accountability, proper assistance for the victims, and decent jobs in the Philippines so that no Filipino is ever forced to work and suffer abuse abroad."
“We call on fellow Filipino migrant workers to continue fighting for the right to social service programs that are subsidized by the government and that genuinely benefit the public."
Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, concerned Filipino migrants denounced the ‘dehumanizing’ and ‘negligent’ conditions inside detention facilities of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the lack of support from the Philippine government amidst the worsening cases of raids and arrests.
Migrant workers overseas believe that a Philippine wage hike will be the lasting solution to the worsening cases of abuses of overseas Filipinos, claiming that the local economic crisis in the Philippines only breeds an environment for the rampant human trafficking of Filipino workers abroad.
“Without the OFW remittance that has kept the Philippine economy afloat in the last four years, maybe the Philippines would already be doomed,” said Makabayan senatorial candidate and former Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño.
The Migrante Middle East said that without providing an alternative to the rising unemployment and lack of living wage in the Philippines, the government will only be putting the lives and livelihood of Filipino migrant workers even more at risk.
“Now that she has been in the country for nearly a month, Marcos should use his unbound power to grant her clemency if he truly cares about our OFWs who have become victims of human trafficking. There is no more reason to delay her freedom."
An analysis made by the Migrant Forum in Asia showed that the Kafala system only favors the rights of the employers, highlighting the system’s failure to protect the rights and welfare of the migrant workers.
"Mary Jane Veloso is not a criminal but a victim of human trafficking. Her homecoming should not be treated as a prisoner transfer but as the return of a Filipino who has suffered enough." -- former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate
Mary Jane Veloso’s accounts reveal the realities of Filipino migrant workers who are victimized by human traffickers. Mary Jane’s family and supporters call for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to grant her clemency, a conditional release of a person deprived of liberty (PDL), mitigating the consequences of criminal liability.
“We hope that our government will put Mary Jane in a safe place, and that she will be granted clemency by our government,” said Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother, during the program commemorating the birth of Andres Bonifacio last November 30 (Saturday).
Veloso’s case was brought to international attention after she was sentenced to die in Indonesia. Prior to this, her family spent more than five years seeking government assistance to prove that she was a victim of human trafficking.
After almost 14 years of imprisonment, Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino on death row in Indonesia, has a chance of coming back home to the Philippines.
A community of readers and supporters that help us sustain our operations through microdonations for as low as $1.