Filipino laborers and labor rights groups gathered in front of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) yesterday to protest neglect of the plight of Filipino workers in Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), who were beaten up and sent home on Aug. 2, by MECO and the Philippine government.
Following the strike of several hundred Filipino workers on July 14 and July 15 in Mailiao Township (麥寮) in Yunlin County, four Filipinos were beaten up before being repatriated to the Philippines along with 14 others.
According to Gil Lebria, a laborer, the strike was to protest unexplained deductions from their salary, bad working conditions, the sub-contracting of laborers by FPG to Samsung and CTCI Chemicals Corp, and a compulsory savings policy, which often forced laborers to take out loans only to be charged interest of 10 percent to 15 percent.
PHOTO: CNA
Just before being repatriated, Lebria and three other workers were beaten up in an attempt to force them to sign declarations that they led the strike -- allegedly preventing other migrant laborers from reporting for work -- and that they were withdrawing their complaints against the company and their broker.
"They tried to make me sign three blank statements. Two people were punching me in the face. There was blood running down my forehead and I was kicked in the stomach," Lebria said.
Telling what the MECO welfare officer in Taichung, Nestor Buryag, said to him after he was beaten up, Lebria said, "He said we were far away from home and we were not the only laborers who had problems. Later when I tried to call again, his phone was switched off." A cabin-crew member noticed their condition on the flight to Hong Kong and they received medical attention on arrival there.
According to a press statement released by the Migrante Sectoral Party, an organization which fights for the welfare of overseas Filipino laborers, Henry Parel, the MECO labor representative in Taichung at the time, lied in a report to Labor Secretary Patricia Sto Thomas, saying the workers requested management to send them home.
Furthermore, when the repatriated workers sought the assistance of the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) on their arrival in the Philippines, they were told by welfare officer Ed Pequero that if they pursued the case against their company, it would take time and they would lose the suit because they could not afford a lawyer and the high legal costs. Instead they were advised to accept FPG's offer of a settlement.
Carlo Aquino, head of the Assistance to Nationals department at MECO, said that Parel and Burayag have since been sent back to the Philippines and for further action to be taken against them, a formal complaint needs to be filed with the Philippine government.
Aquino said that there were two issues which need to be dealt with in investigating the case further.
"We need to look into the cause of the strike in the first place -- ie, the labor problems described -- and also possible violations of the criminal law," he said.
Aquino also said that they plan to ask FPG staff in Taichung about the staff members that accompanied the four beaten-up Filipino laborers to the airport on Aug. 2, to find out who was involved in the attacks. According to Aquino, prosecution can only be started if the alleged assailants can be named.
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