A media launch was held last July
18, 2017 at Golden Bay Restaurant, Pasay City to launch the oath taking event
that will happen on October. As multi-awarded public service show, Buhay OFW
which airs every Saturday at 9:30 pm on Aksyon TV and Aksyon International, celebrates
its 7th year anniversary, they take a significant leap forward by
launching the project Anti Trafficking OFW Movement (ATOM) through the
initiative of host and founder, Marissa del Mar.
ATOM is as a step towards
remedying the statistics of over 10 million Filipino men, women, and children subjected
to sex trafficking and forced labor worldwide. Our OFW, in dire need to provide
a better future for themselves and their families, constitute a large
percentage of those already exploited or at risk of being exploited. This
campaign recognizes the contribution of the OFW not only in the Philippine
Economic Development but also in the promotion of safety among their fellow migrants.
Although a term less estranged to
many due to depictions in entertainment outlets such as Hollywood movies,
human-trafficking is an ongoing hazard closer to home than most people expect
and realize. UNDOC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) recognizes
trafficking in as simple a situation as the recruitment of a person for a false
job within or across national borders with the intention to trap them into
forced labor. More often, however, the deception and abuse does not stop there.
It leads to prostitution, sexual exploitation, slavery, and removal of organs.
Some common destinations for
victims are Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore, Qatar, China, Japan, United Arab
Emirates, and Malaysia – places popular to the general public as tourist
destinations. Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Mactan International
Airport become exit points for workers expecting real jobs abroad only to be
met instead with real threats. They are also smuggled and trafficked in ports in
Ilocos Sur, Zamboanga del Sur, Davao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Bicol, and
Dagupan City with 30% transported by sea.
These victims – a large number of whom originate from
areas within Metro Manila and in the provinces of Laguna, Rizal, Pampanga,
Cavite, Batangas, Cebu, Zamboanga, and Davao – are the same people who
contribute to the Philippines 180 billion pesos in total remittance which lead
to the amassing of foreign reserves and the rise of the national savings rate. They
sacrifice their comfort, health, marriages, children, and often their pride, to
improve their recipient households and, in the process, the national economy.
These are the people stripped of their human rights by predators operating
under pretense of recruitment agencies and other aliases.
Through the combined efforts of
Buhay OFW Foundation, San Miguel Corporation, Volunteers Against Crime and
Corruption (VACC), National Real Estate Association (NREA), Sterling Group of
Companies, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Philippine Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine Chinese Charitable Association
(PCCA), Zonta Club of Makati Central Business District, Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Inc. (PCCCII), together also with our media partners Aksyon TV, ANC,
Light Network Channel, Malaya Business Insight, these facts become the foundation on which
change begins. The meaningful oath taking will take place on October 23, Monday
at the Diamond Hotel, Manila.
Cooperation with these organizations
and authorities could uncover and convict more labor traffickers and officials
and establishments complicit in these crimes. The resulting assistance of
thousands of victims opens opportunities for further action towards the safety
of all.
ATOM challenges Filipinos here
and abroad to raise awareness, strengthen camaraderie, and therefore reduce –
in hopes of someday eliminating – this threat to our OFW altogether.
Sources:
news.abs-cbn.com/global-filipino/02/20/15/ofws-contributions-ph-economy-cited-forum/
No comments:
Post a Comment