Nanay Edith Langamin forwarded a text she got from Atty. Ira Pozon of the Office of the Vice-President to my mobile phone. It said that the Vice-President would like to meet with her regarding the case of her son, Jonard, who is on Saudi Arabia’s death row. The meeting was to be held Wednesday, January 4 at the Coconut Palace.

“Ma’am Toots, pakisamahan po ako,” Nanay Edith said. The Blas F. Ople Center, a nonprofit organization, which I head, has been helping Nanay Edith follow-up on her son’s case since April 2011. At that time, news reporter Jeff Canoy was doing a documentary on the lives of OFWs. Jeff’’s able researcher, Cherrie Ongtengco, fetched Nanay Edith at her home in Caloocan City for that eventful morning meeting.

It was 10.30 am, Wednesday. We motored from the Ople Center to the spacious Coconut Palace by the bay. Nanay Edith brought along her sister, Rina. At the entrance of the Vice-President’s wooden palace was Atty. Ira Pozon, the person tasked with looking after sensitive OFW cases. His handshake was warm, as was his smile. Nanay Edith’s heart fluttered with anticipation.

We were shown into a room. Already seated were Vice-President Jejomar Binay, his adviser, former Ambassador Jun Lozada, OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon, and Robert Mendoza, the father of Robertson Mendoza, who was killed by Jonard Langamin during an altercation on May 5, 2008. Both the Mendoza and Langamin families were unaware that the meeting would involve both parties. However, Nanay Edith and Ka Bert have met twice before. Ka Bert is a softspoken man with a good heart who had told me once before that he bore no grudge against Jonard.

The entire group moved to the Vice-President’s office where there was a comfortable set of sofas facing each other, and three chairs commanding the front. On those three chairs sat Administrator Dimzon, Ambassador Lozada and with the Vice-President right in the middle. The Mendoza family sat to his left and Nanay Edith, her sister, Rina, DFA’s Ambassador Eric Endaya of the Office of Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) and I were seated opposite them.

For three years, Nanay Edith had been following up her son’s case. Blood money has been set at the equivalent of Php5 million. Edith and her husband sell fishball and sweet corn at the Baliuag Bus Terminal in Caloocan City. Prior to that meeting, the Langamins were able to raise just Php 30,000, from money chipped in by OFW families and a few anonymous donors. During that Wednesday morning, we learned that Jonard was to be executed on March 2012.

Vice-President Jejomar Binay spoke with a soft voice, and every word he uttered was measured with tact and diplomacy especially towards the aggrieved family. He opened the meeting with an appeal to not dwell on the past and instead focus on how both families could move on. He briefed us about the process regarding blood money cases. He assured Robert Mendoza that the government has taken cognizance of his family’s grief and loss. The Vice-President steered the conversation to the plight of Jonard Langamin and the urgent need for a solution prior to March. He asked Ka Bert in the softest and most gentle manner possible, whether he would be able to forgive Jonard and to put such act of forgiveness in writing. After a few quiet heartbeats, Ka Bert, who was looking down at that time, nodded yes.

The intensity of that moment shall stay with me forever. While the Vice-President and Ambassador Endaya of the DFA were discussing procedures, Nanay Edith leaped out of the sofa and crossed over to Ka Bert’s side and knelt before him. Her body shook with tears, emotions etched on her face like a glass sculpture. The room itself was suffused with joy pouring out from Edith’s grateful heart. Three years, that case was unresolved. It took ten minutes on that fateful Wednesday morning, for Jonard Langamin’s life to be spared. God was in the room.

Later that day, I watched the news and saw Bert Mendoza explaining why he decided to formally forgive Jonard. “I asked my son for a sign. I said that if I woke up early on Wednesday with a light feeling, that would be a sign from Robertson that all must be forgiven.” And yes, he did.

What now remains is for the Department of Foreign Affairs to send the letter of forgiveness signed by Robert Mendoza, as the patriarch of the family, to the Philippine Embassy which shall then formallly present this to the Saudi court. What is important is that Jonard’s life has been spared. What is inspiring was how Ka Bert found freedom in forgiveness. I wish the Langamin and Mendoza families the best of luck in their new lives and I thank Vice-President Binay and the DFA for resolving this case. (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/susanople.)

If you have the power to save a life, would you do it? Or do you set a limit on how much time, effort, and money you are willing to set aside before you even decide to act?

That is the crux of the matter involving the creation of a technical working group to study what the administration’s policy should be when it comes to blood money involving overseas Filipino workers on death row.

The decision of the Office of the President to create a technical working group to study and create guidelines on cases involving blood money stemmed from unusually high amounts being required by aggrieved families. The Department of Foreign Affairs have raised the issue of sustainability in relation to requests for blood money.

But first, a definition of terms.

Qisas is a principle under the Shari’a or Islamic law that makes the actual perpetrator of a crime alone guilty, and alone liable to punishment. The punishment must be the exact equivalent of the crime, i.e. tooth for a tooth, life for a life. [5:45, The Holy Qur'an]

However, in consideration of the priceless value of human life, the Islamic law explicitly recommends the substitution of compensation on another plane — through the so-called “diyyah” or blood money compensation for the victim’s mandatory heirs.

Upon the acceptance of “diyyah”, a letter of forgiveness or “tanazul” is issued by the victim’s mandatory heirs.

Once the “tanazul” is issued, the private aspects of the case iareextinguished, and what is left is the public rights aspect of the case which can be waived by the King or Emir (head of state).

Without a “tanazul”, the King (in Saudi Arabia’s case) will never issue pardon or commute the sentence of the perpetrator.

As an OFW advocate, I believe that the technical working group should lose no time in fulfilling its mandate from the President. Time is of the essence considering that some of these cases involving OFWs on death row have been in the legal pipeline for several years.

The case of Dondon Lanuza for example is already a decade-old. Dondon was convicted of stabbing to death an Arab national. This year, for the very first time, the aggrieved family has signified willingness to consider blood money. The Saudi court had ruled that it would be up to the victim’s son to decide on the private aspect of this case when he reaches legal age (18) which would be sometime in 2015.

However, this rare window of opportunity may soon close unless the Lanuza family is able to resolve the issue of blood money amounting to millions of pesos.

My sincere belief is that the Aquino administration has no other recourse but to help families of OFWs on death row particularly in Saudi Arabia to raise the agreed upon “diyyah”. To discard or downplay previous arrangements because the costs are high and the question of sustainability has been raised, would lead to the diminution in the credibility of our own embassy in Riyadh and the Philippine government as a whole.

One must also note the spirit behind Section 27 of Republic Act No. 8042 otherwise known as the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995:

“The protection of the Filipino migrant workers and the promotion of their welfare in particular, and the protection of the dignity and fundamental rights and freedom of the Filipino citizen abroad, in general, shall be the highest priority concerns of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine foreign service posts.”

In governance, there are matters that only the heart can see. In the case of these OFWs, the aggrieved families have already opened their hearts to the call of forgiveness. Calculating the “sustainability” in hearing such calls for rationalizing what is intrinsically emotional; putting boundaries and ceilings on a State’s capability to save lives.

I am not one to condone the crimes of the OFWs involved. They do not come begging with clean hands. But I must argue on the side of forgiveness and a second chance at reforms and restitution.

In the case of OFW Junard Langamin, he was 27 years old when he first stepped on the ship together with another OFW whose life Junard would soon take away. They left as friends but as the days went by and pressures at work continue to build up, the two Filipinos suddenly found themselves fighting below the ship’s deck. A knife was drawn, a life extinguished.

Junard’s mom is a peanut and corn vendor who wakes up at 5 o’clock every morning to push her cart from her home to the Baliuag Bus Terminal in Caloocan City. How can the Langamin family raise the amount of Php 5 million in exchange for Junard’s freedom without government’s help?

I urge the technical working group well in deciding which lives to save, and which to forego. (Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com)

News Release

Blas F. Ople Policy Center

February 10, 2010

NGO calls on PH to say less and do more to show appreciation for its friendship with Taiwan

Former labor undersecretary and known OFW advocate Susan Ople called on the Aquino administration to bare its plans on how to mitigate the impact of further fall-out from the ongoing row between the Philippines and Taiwan over the recent deportation of 24 Taiwanese nationals to mainland China.

The daughter of the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople stressed that while the Philippine government continues to invoke its One-China policy, the fate of over 100,000 Filipino workers and their families back home hang in the balance.

“Are we truly prepared to walk the talk? What is our contingency plan once Taiwan decides not to renew the contracts of our workers? If we don’t even have one, then I appeal to government officials to come up with more nuanced and sober statements,”‘ Ople said, adding that the worsening rift is now causing Filipinos in Taiwan deep concern.

The head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization known for helping distressed OFWs, said that there are instances in the diplomatic world when the “‘less talk-more action’” rule should be observed. “‘To my mind, this is one such instance. Let our diplomats and private industry leaders sort this out with their counterparts as long-standing friends are wont to do, below the radar screen but always with deep respect and appreciation for each other.”‘

The center pointed out the irony that billions of pesos are being poured in to finance conditional cash transfers to the poor yet the government seems to be too stingy in its statements extolling the mutually beneficial relations between Taiwan and the Philippines over the years that have led to decent jobs for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.

‘Low-skilled migrant workers in Taiwan including Filipinos earn at least twice, if not triple, the minimum wage in their homeland. Taiwan has been quite effective in promoting the rights of all workers including foreign workers. And while we adhere to the One-China policy as many other countries do, we should not fail to recognize and be grateful for the enormous contributions of the peoples and leadership of Taiwan to our country.”

The anti-human trafficking advocate noted that there may have been a coordination gap when the Bureau of Immigration failed to notify the Manila Economic and Cultural Office about the pending case involving 24 Taiwanese nationals. ‘This is not to cast aspersion on any single agency but simple courtesies do matter. Had the MECO and even our labor department been informed early on about this then perhaps a more amicable compromise could have been reached through diplomatic and private sector channels without compromising our foreign policy.’ ”

The lack of coordination between and among different agencies is apparent even with the post-deportation statements being issued by various officials.

Ople thus appealed to the Aquino administration: “‘Speak with one voice, and deliver one clear and unified message.”‘ The NGO leader said that at this point, the government should simply refer all media inquiries about the Taiwan rift to the labor department, while making known the Philippines’ desire to reach out to the people of Taiwan and engage in talks about mutual cooperation in the fight against transnational crime.

END

Kuala Lumpur – The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice jointly organized a three-day regional training on the protection of trafficking in persons victims and prosecution of offenders abroad in Malaysia on November 17-19.

I was invited as a resource person to give a presentation on the role of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center as a non-government organization that assists distressed Filipino workers particularly those trafficked to different countries. The audience was composed of 35 Philippine Embassy officials assigned in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries. They comprised consular officers, labor attaches, welfare attaches, and assistance-to-nationals (ATN) officers. Representatives from the Philippine Embassy in Dili, the Philippine Consulates-General in Hong Kong and Manado plus the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei attended as well.

The training program designed by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking with help from the International Labor Organization was well-structured and relevant to the work of our foreign posts. Topics included the global context of human trafficking, detection and identification and evidence of trafficking, preparation of a sworn statement, treatment of victims including assistance and protection, and how to use a newly-developed database system for referral and action tailor-made to trafficking cases. A common thread in all discussions was the role of the Foreign Service in prevention, protection, and prosecution – the three pillars of an anti-trafficking campaign.

As part of the discussions on reintegration services, I briefed them about the Skills-UP! vocational scholarships offered by the Blas F. Ople Center to trafficking victims in partnership with the Manny Villar Foundation and Asian School for Hospitality Arts. We also discussed an ongoing case that involved a Singaporean national with the alias of Alfred Lim who has been charged in Malaysian court by two of our wards.

During the open forum, one of the consular officers asked why, despite all their hard work, they have not received the kind of acknowledgement and recognition that these frontline embassy personnel believe should be forthcoming. I told them that one of the things they have to contend with is that the government now has to share the stage with so many other non-state actors.

“You would have to be more aggressive and assertive in putting your message and information across.” This is also one of the reasons, I said, that government functionaries should understand why it is important to work closely with civil society groups. While government puts in the usual hours, its constituents are able to converse and exchange ideas in a parallel digital universe. “We have all these running conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and e-groups that very few of you are part of,” I stressed, adding that while bureaucrats need to maintain certain boundaries, private citizens are able to exercise free speech at will and with increasing velocity, thanks to cyberspace.

I learned a lot from the reports shared by representatives of different posts regarding the trafficking cases they have encountered. For example, the representative from the Philippine Embassy in Singapore cited a decrease in the number of Filipino women victims but noticed an increase in male victims especially in the case of Filipino fishermen who are being recruited from distant provinces to work illegally for fishing vessels in the high seas of Singapore. “They worked for two years at an average of 18 hours a day under abominable conditions with a monthly salary of $200, which they were able to claim at the end of two years,” the consular officer said. The fishermen were deployed by a travel agency based in Manila that despite several complaints, continue to operate.

A common source of concern was the growing involvement of Filipinos in the international drug trade. Consul General Raymond Balatbat of the Philippine Embassy in Brunei recounted the case of “M”, a Filipina who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Board for possessing 251 grams of heroin. She arrived in Brunei with her 2-year old son in tow. “M” averred that she did not know that the bag lent to her by a Malaysian friend contained illegal drugs. The court will hear her case next year while a Filipino couple known to the embassy looks after the suspect’s little boy. Here in Malaysia, around 15 Filipinos arrested for the possession of illegal drugs face the death penalty.

The problem of human trafficking and the involvement of Filipinos in the global drug trade shall continue as long as there are Filipinos who are not too wise and careful in making career choices and a slew of compatriots who see every worker’s dream as an opportunity to earn. In my visit to the Workers’ Welfare Center, I asked the wards why it was so easy for the recruiters to sell them empty promises. One of the wards said that it was her relative who recruited her. The others agreed. Several of them were recruited by someone that the family knew and trusted. To all overseas job applicants, I say please be careful.  For trafficking syndicates, money is always thicker than blood or friendship. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople)

I am glad that you are finally the Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ Concerns. Your predecessor, Vice-President Noli de Castro, did an excellent job in this position. He poured a lot of heart and soul in helping our OFWs, and often travelled to the Middle East to convey our government’s concern over the plight of distressed workers especially those on death row.

This position is a challenging one not only because of the sheer size of your constituency – around 9 million overseas Filipinos and their families back home – but also because of the tight budget deficit that makes it extremely difficult for government to spend more for repatriation and recovery programs. But spend it must, not just for protection, but most especially on the prevention of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.

I have no doubt that your work as the President’s key adviser on OFW issues and concerns will draw from your own personal experience as a mayor. You would need to listen to a lot of sob stories; deal with the police and NBI to ensure that cases are resolved; and work closely with the labor and foreign affairs departments to ensure a stricter monitoring of the deployment of our workers as well as better onsite services to help those already overseas. Being an action man and a lawyer to boot, you will enjoy this position, and because the Filipino Diaspora is replete with human interest stories, publicity will hound you as the nation witnesses the unfolding of one controversial and heart wrenching case after another.

Foremost in the to-do list of this administration is the fight against human trafficking and illegal recruitment. We are now in the Tier 2 Watch List of the US State Department. We have been in this same category for two years now, from 2009 to 2010. Under the US anti-trafficking law, a country that has been in the Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years faces an automatic downgrade unless significant efforts are shown in the fight against trafficking. At risk are $250 million in non-humanitarian assistance from the US government. More importantly, at risk are the lives of so many potential victims of human trafficking and forced labor here and abroad.

President Benigno Simeon Aquino has expressed his commitment to fight trafficking in several occasions. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz have spearheaded reforms in their respective departments against trafficking. There are encouraging signs all around us that this issue is being addressed firmly and sincerely by the present government.

Unfortunately, the deeds must match the words. It is in the very low conviction rates for trafficked and illegal recruitment cases where we fail as a nation. For several years, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking under the justice department has not received even a single peso in budgetary allocation. These two areas require drastic positive change. The Department of Budget and Managment has allotted a budget for the IACAT in the 2011 proposed General Appropriations Act. Please, Mr. Vice-President, please make sure that this budget item is not dropped for frivolous and self-serving reasons because its deletion can imperil our fight to stay out of the Tier 3 category.

I am glad that the Department of Interior and Local Governments headed by Secretary Jesse Robredo has taken up the cause of anti-trafficking and illegal recruitment as well. The Blas F. Ople Center led by yours truly and three other non-government organizations namely, the Visayan Forum Foundation, the Association of Child Caring Agencies of the Philippines and the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy signed an agreement with the DILG to render technical support and help build the capacities of local governments in the prevention of human trafficking and illegal recruitment at the barangay level.

Much work still needs to be done. I am highly concerned over the certification process now being undertaken by our embassies and consulates abroad in keeping with Section 3 of Republic Act No. 10022 or the Amendments to the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995. One wrong move could be met by an antagonistic response by an offended labor receiving country. Confusion can also be an outcome as millions of OFWs are not even aware that such a law has been passed. If there is anything that you need to study and oversee, it is the myriad implications that this new law have on overseas employment program and the OFWs themselves. This is why a dialogue regarding this new law between you and different stakeholders is quite urgent.

Mr. Vice-President, you do have your work cut out for you. With hundreds of Filipinos under detention and the list of drug mules on death row growing longer by the month, you literally hold the key to saving the lives of many OFWs. As an OFW advocate, I wish you all the best. Please serve as an effective bridge between our OFWs and their families and the President of this beloved Republic. Our modern-day heroes expect nothing less. (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. Visit my blog at www.susanople.com)

News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
April 12, 2009

Filipino community rallies around 137 stranded bus drivers in Dubai; Ople Center seeks immediate probe and suspension of licensed agency involved in their recruitment

In keeping with the spirit of Lent, the “bayanihan” spirit was alive and well in Dubai as Filipinos pitch in canned goods, water, toiletries, and other food items to help 137 bus drivers stranded and looking for jobs after being deployed there by a licensed recruitment agency.

The stranded drivers were overwhelmed by the show of hospitality and generosity by Filipino community leaders who traveled in a convoy yesterday (Black Saturday). According to Ares Gutierrez, sub-editor of XPRESS, the Dubai-based paper that broke the story about the stranded bus drivers, most of the victims were confused as to what they should do next.

One of the drivers, Claro Oliver of Rizal province, contacted the Blas F. Ople Policy Center yesterday for help in pursuing justice against their recruiter, CYM International Services, a licensed recruitment agency. The agency promised the Filipino drivers good-paying jobs at Dubai’s government transport agency known as Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Some of the drivers, some of who quit their local jobs despite years of service, have been waiting to be hired by RTA since January of this year. Desperate for food and cash, the stranded drives have resorted to scavenging a dumpsite for scrap food.

Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the Blas F. Ople Center, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to immediately investigate and if possible, suspend the said agency and its counterpart in Dubai, Al Toomoh Technical Services. “The sheer number of victims involved constitutes an act of economic sabotage by this licensed agency. We urge immediate action and for the owners of the agency to be barred from leaving the country.”

The bus drivers, nearly half of who hail from the province of Bulacan, complained to the Ople Center that their passports were being held by the foreign counterpart of their local agency in Dubai. This prevents them from applying for new jobs. Majority of the victims are professional drivers who have worked for years in reputable transport companies such as Baliuag Transit. The Center said the Philippine Consulate should intervene and obtain the passports of the stranded workers.

The plight of the 137 bus drivers were first exposed by Filipino journalists Jay Hilotin and Ares Gutierrez of Xpress publications based on a tip from a fellow Filipino journalist working at Gulf News. Word quickly spread through e-mail and soon, an assembly time and place were designated to enable Filipinos to join an aid convoy leading to the camp where the bus drivers were staying. A Filipino association of Airsoft aficionados whose game was suspended last Friday, pitched in by giving cash donations.

Aside from lack of food, the drivers were sharing living quarters near the Ajman garbage dumpsite. Their building’s electric power is sourced from a generator, giving them only 3 to 4 hours of electricity. The building also has inadequate water supply.

According to the drivers, they paid as much as P150,000 to CYM International Services in exchange for jobs at RTA. Some of the drivers have been staying in Dubai waiting for the promised jobs to come into fruition since January.

Based on interviews with XPRESS, driver Max Sumulong, 34, one of the victims, said last year CYM had offered him a job as a driver for Dh5,200 a month and he had given the agency 10,000 pesos (Dh1,000) as “processing fee”.

“The agency had asked each one of us to take out a 150,000-peso (Dh11,418) loan from a lending agency recommended by them and made us sign undated cheques worth 405,000 pesos (about Dh40,000) addressed to a bank and the lending agency, payable in 15 months,” he said.

Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila, said: “We’ve been collecting aluminium cans, selling them at Dh4 per kg in Ajman, just to have something to eat.”

The stranded bus drivers are hoping that the Philippine Consulate can help them look for jobs in Dubai rather than be sent home. “Their biggest worry is on how they can repay the lending agency. If they come home, whatever they earn as bus drivers won’t be enough to pay off their loans and still sustain the needs of their families,” Ople explained.

Ople said she is awaiting documents from the bus drivers that would help speed up the POEA’s investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment practices of CYM International Services and its counterpart in Dubai. The Filipino community has lent the drivers a photocopy machine so they could consolidate and reproduce all the documents needed to bolster their case.

The former labor undersecretary also hoped that the 137 drivers would be able to meet President Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro and other high-ranking officials in their visit to Dubai.

Picture courtesy of Ares Gutierrez of XPRESS, a Dubai-based paper