10 March 2012
Migrants’ center seeks protection for abandoned families of OFWs
DAVAO CITY–Now serving 27 cases of abandoned women and families of overseas Filipino Workers, the Mindanao Migrants Center for Empowering Actions Inc. (MMCEAI) continues to pilot this advocacy here in the city.
“We are starting this in Davao by documenting cases and assisting the victims of this form of abandonment by way of legal help, counselling, and livelihood assistance”, said MMCEAI executive director Inorisa Sialana-Elento.
Some overseas workers left the country for work, forgot about their family back home, and built new relationships in the foreign land. Victims of these cases are those who do not just experience physical abuse but also financial neglect and emotional abuses.
The center recently found out that there are policy gaps that should be addressed and protection mechanisms needed to be in place. The Magna Carta for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), according to Elento, lacked the discussion of the abandonment of families of OFWs. The new family code also failed to mention the protection of abandoned women and families of OFWs.
The MMCEAI thus asked for the review in the provisions of RA 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, the New Family Code of the Philippines, RA 9262 or Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004, Solo Parents Act of 2000 and other related laws favorable to abandoned women and families of OFWs. (RIGA/FMGM-PIA)
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