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.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS