Filipino News 169 - Eleksyon 2023

ISSUE 169 | ELEKSYON | www.filipinoheroes.nz | email: filipinonews@xtra.co.nz | www.filipinonews.nz | 03 BUHAY
www.filipinoheroes.nz : Over a 120 Filipino Kiwi Heroes have been recognised over the years by Filipino News NZ.
NZ
WELLINGTON
– The establishment
of a Philippine government
Labour
Office in Wellington
in 2019 has been
instrumental in significantly
curtailing
the exploitation of
Filipino overseas
foreign workers
(OFWs) in Aotearoa
NZ.
“As a whole I can
say that the presence
of the Philippine
Overseas Labour
Office (POLO) in New
Zealand has created an
atmosphere where all the
stakeholders involved in the
migration of Filipino workers
in New Zealand have
been mostly compliant with
our rules and regulations,”
said Labour Attache Mr
Angel L. Borja Jr, who
heads the POLO for NZ and
the Pacific, which is based in
Wellington.
In an earlier interview
with Filipino News he noted
that: “The net effect is that
there are fewer workers that
come to us complaining that
they have been unjustly
treated by employers or have
suffered from unjust termination
of contracts and other
employment related grievance
issues.
“If we are looking at who
Angel L. Borja Jr.
Department of Migrant
Workers
are more
vulnerable
to labour migration
exploitation practices, it usually
is the low-skilled workers,
but in New Zealand we
say that there are no lowskilled
workers, they are all
skilled, essential skilled
workers even,” explained
Mr Borja.
“But even among these
types of Filipino overseas
workers in New Zealand you
find that those that work
specifically in the dairy farm
sector, agriculture in general,
viticulture, horticulture
and some construction sectors
are the ones that are
more vulnerable to labour
migration exploitation practices.
They are the ones who
are more in need of assistance
in terms of dealing
with the things that are being
done to them by certain bad
actors in the recruitment
Empowering Filipino OFWs:
POLO becomes
Department of
Migrant Workers
industry.”
The establishment of
POLO in New Zealand
has proven to be a significant
milestone for
Filipino OFWs. The
decision was made
based on the number of
Filipino migrant workers
in the country, with
New Zealand meeting
the criteria for opening
a POLO office.
Borja elaborated that:
“Prior to the opening of
POLO New Zealand,
workers seeking
employment contract verification
had to send their documents
to POLO in
Canberra, Australia, incurring
significant expenses.
Opening a local POLO
office in New Zealand
addressed this issue and
facilitated the process for
Filipino workers.”
In an exclusive interview
with Migrant News in June
this year, Mr Borja
explained the recent name
change of the Labour Office.
POLO has been transformed
into the Department of
Migrant Workers (DMW)
- reflecting a new law passed
by the Philippine government
to establish a dedicated
cabinet department focused
solely on migrant worker
affairs.
Explaining the reason
behind the change, Mr Borja
said that: "The government
decided that a new instrumentality
of government
should be created to take up
the job of looking after our
working nationals overseas."
The creation of the DMW
aligns with this objective,
providing a
focused
approach to
cater to the
needs of
Filipino
workers
abroad.
Mr Borja
also shed
light on the
number of
overseas
Filipino
workers
(OFWs) in
New Zealand.
"Right
now we have almost 40,000
Filipino work visa holders in
this country."
He added that these individuals
are
employed in
various sectors,
ranging
from construction
workers,
By Ricky Matthew
nurses, healthcare workers,
dairy farmers, IT professionals
and others.
When asked about the sentiments
of Filipinos regarding
the opportunities in New
Zealand, Mr Borja responded
positively, saying: "They
are quite happy with finding
themselves jobs in this country.
There are even a good
number of them who came
from Middle Eastern countries."
Regarding the ease of
entry into the country, Mr
Borja explained that the
accredited employers' work
visa allows a smooth process
for Filipino workers to come
to New Zealand if they meet
the criteria set by
Immigration New Zealand.
The transformation of
POLO to the DMW in New
Zealand is not just a mere
name change, but a recognition
from the Philippine government
of the growing need
to tackle the injustices that
many new Filipino migrant
workers face in New
Zealand.