how's Sultan of Pulau Peesai going to cope w this? Maids demands RIGHTS

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

The new Pinoy Pirate King President hates Pulau Peesai Sultan....



http://m.focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201605110032.aspx


Filipino workers in Taiwan seeking better rights after Duterte's win
2016/05/11 23:48:33


CNA file photo

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) Filipino workers in Taiwan are calling on Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to seek justice and better rights for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), after he claimed victory in his country's election on Tuesday.

"As OFWs, we don't have any protection abroad. The previous presidents in the Philippines did not care about the migrant workers, OFW situation or victims of illegal human trafficking," Gilda Banugan, chairperson of Migrante International's Taiwan Chapter told CNA by telephone on Wednesday.

Banugan said her organization, which is allied with OFWs in Taiwan, is drafting a statement to send to Migrante International headquarters with the hope that it will inform the president-elect's decisions on policies to improve the lives of the approximately 124,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan.

The priority is to prosecute brokers and recruitment agencies that violate the law by requesting illegal placement fees and to ensure that workers are employed through a direct hiring service, said Banugan, a Filipino caretaker who has been working in Taiwan for two years.

Meriam Devalgue Hsu, a Filipino-Taiwanese social worker with the Taiwan International Workers' Association, said she hopes Duterte will help reduce the placement fees for overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan when he takes office.

"All recruitment agencies are collecting excessive amounts of brokerage fees," even though Philippine law stipulates that there should be no brokerage fees for migrant fishermen and caretakers, and that the fees for migrant factory workers should not exceed one month's salary, said Devalgue Hsu, whose agency works to improve working conditions and the social environment for migrant workers in Taiwan.

Maricel Dadivas, a 36-year-old Filipino caretaker, told CNA that when she first came to Taiwan four years ago, she paid her agency and broker a placement fee of NT$146,000 (US$4,486), the equivalent of nine months' salary, even though she should not have had to pay those fees.

"I would like to tell our new president he must take immediate action and investigate these under-the-table brokers' fees," Dadivas said.

"We are serving our country. We are serving Filipinos. We contribute a lot as OFWs," she said. "We hope for changes and we need changes as Filipinos."

The issue of placement fees was also mentioned on social media, with Facebook users such as Les Lor Enz expressing the hope that after Duterte takes office, "there will be no or low (one month's salary) placement fees for OFWs here in Taiwan."

Even though a direct hiring service is available for migrant workers in Taiwan, most workers still go to brokers because many Taiwanese employers do not use the direct hiring service for recruitment, Banugan said.

Foreign domestic helpers and caregivers in Taiwan also do not have time off to process the required paperwork for the direct hiring service, she said, urging the Taiwanese government to allow domestic workers the mandatory number of days off.

In addition to high placement fees, there is also a problem of employer abuse of migrant workers, according to Banugan and Dadivas. Migrant workers suffer frequent abuse in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Dadivas said.

"We hope that there will be justice for all migrant workers, not only migrant workers here in Taiwan," she said.

If the Philippines economy could be improved, many Filipinos would no longer have to leave their families and country to find work, Dadivas and Banugan said.

"We hope that he (Duterte) can create more jobs and higher salaries in the Philippines so the Filipino people won't need to go abroad," Banugan said.

Banugan, who is from Mindanao Island, said she has high hopes for Duterte as she thinks he has "good leadership" skills, judging from his performance as a long-term mayor of Davao City in Mindanao.

Devalgue Hsu said Duterte is known to have been a good mayor who was tough on crime so there is hope that he would help improve the rights of overseas Filipino workers.

A former prosecutor, Duterte is known for his heavy-handed tactics in dealing with crime. He has been criticized for his incendiary remarks on drugs, rape and crime, and for his alleged human rights violations, but his supporters in Taiwan said they have faith in him.

"Duterte may have a 'dirty mouth' but we Filipinos believe that he will give us a clean government. When he speaks, he gets things done," Facebook user Frances Joan Clavecillas wrote.


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