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Palace told: Reconsider tough stance vs Taiwan

Palace told: Reconsider tough stance vs Taiwan

A NON-government organization known for helping distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) called on Malacañang Friday to re-think its position not to apologize for the deportation of 14 Taiwanese crime suspects to mainland China instead of Taiwan.

The Blas F. Ople Policy Center questioned the government’s hard-line stance against the irked Taiwanese side, which employs some 90,000 OFWs, whose jobs may now be imperiled because of the bilateral row.

“Are we truly prepared to walk the talk? What is our contingency plan once Taiwan decides not to renew the contracts of our workers? If we don’t even have one, then I appeal to government officials to come up with more nuanced and sober statements,” said Ople Center head Susan Ople.

She opined that it would have been better if the Palace kept mum and just make a concrete plan on how to resolve the problem.

“There are instances in the diplomatic world when the ‘less talk, more action’ rule should be observed,” added Ople.

On Thursday, Malacañang said it will not apologize for the deportation of 14 Taiwanese crime suspects to mainland China last February 2 and not to their home state, citing the government did what it had to do for the sake of “best interest, national interest” of the Philippines.

This was after the Taiwanese government demanded for a public apology from the Philippines over the deportation, which they called “inhumane, unfair and gravely impairs our trust on the Philippine government as well as betrays long-lasting friendship between Taiwan and the Philippines”.

The controversy has already caused a strain between the two countries as the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) began imposing stricter visa processing for OFWs with fears of the latter eventually freezing their entries.

But according to Ople, the government should not let that happen as the Taiwanese market is among those that provide best employment opportunities for Filipino workers.

“Low-skilled migrant workers in Taiwan, including Filipinos, earn at least twice, if not triple, the minimum wage in their homeland. Taiwan has been quite effective in promoting the rights of all workers, including foreign workers,” she noted.

“We should not fail to recognize and be grateful for the enormous contributions of the peoples and leadership of Taiwan to our country,” Ople added.

Based on Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) records, there is an estimated 94,283 Filipino workers in Taiwan, including the 37,800 deployed just last year and the 2,800 deployed last month. (AMN/Sunnex)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/palace-told-reconsider-tough-stance-vs-taiwan

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