MANILA, Philippines – A new study from civil society groups found the prevalence of labor rights abuses among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in South Korea’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP).
Because the SWP is facilitated by partner local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines and Korea, one would expect close monitoring of adherence to the workers’ human rights.
But the report, conducted by the Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK) and the Migrant Forum in Asia, found grim realities: the program is tainted with irregularities and exploitation.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Department of Migrant Workers officials also earlier raised concerns about the program. In January, the DMW announced that it had halted deployment of Filipinos as seasonal workers to Korea, following a number of complaints about their working conditions.
Here are some things to know about the program, and how abuses happen.
What is the SWP?
According to the Korea Immigration Service, the SWP recruits migrant workers for short periods to address chronic labor shortages during Korea’s busy farming and fishing season.
The program has been in place since 2017. Such shortages occur because of Korea’s aging workforce, the research said.
Because workers are seasonal, their contracts usually last around five to eight months. Workers are expected to return to their home countries, but they may also reapply for a new season.
The Philippines is just one of the countries sending its citizens to be seasonal workers in Korea. Others include fellow developing countries Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal.
Why is the recruitment irregular?
Under Philippine migration governance, agencies that recruit Filipinos for work abroad should be accredited by the DMW. Under the SWP, Philippine LGUs have memoranda of understanding with their counterpart LGUs in South Korea. As the sister LGUs facilitate the recruitment on their own, the DMW is left out of the loop.
The study noted a lack of policy coherence between sending countries and South Korea. The non-supervision of a national authority whose mandate is OFW protection makes the deployment process prone to irregularity and non-uniformity.
In Talisay, Batangas, the research found that local officials were “relying on a private individual” to handle the documentation of seasonal worker applicants, while others were sent through other local governments.
The report also said that there was no regular monitoring system for salaries – like the modes of payment, or if these comply with minimum wages.
Worker-applicants also had to make a deposit with the sending LGUs before departure. This was meant to be a preventive measure against overstaying, but the report said this is abuse of human rights.
Criticism prompted the Korean government to scrap the return deposit system in 2022, but JCMK’s survey found that sending local governments were still requiring repatriation bonds.
What are workers promised, and what happens in reality?
Most seasonal workers surveyed said they were paid between 1.8 million and 2.2 million KRW, or P75,600 to P92,400 monthly. Such a salary – for a blue-collar job at that – is only a dream for many Filipinos.
To compare, the minimum wage for agriculture workers in Metro Manila, which consistently records the highest minimum wages in the country, is just P573 a day or a little over P12,400 a month.
In reality, the study found, brokers intervene in sending remittances and managing the workers’ stay in Korea, “perpetrating a spectrum of human rights violations.”
Brokers were reported to collect high recruitment and visa facilitation fees, deduct hefty amounts from workers’ remittances, and sexually harass workers.
If workers live in isolated areas, they are also at risk of forced labor and trafficking. Some workers are deployed without contracts.
In the case of at least 124 seasonal workers from “Lubau City” cited in the study (which may be referring to Lubao, Pampanga, which has deployed seasonal workers) and who went to Seongju county, the “most problematic issue” was the improper payment of salaries, the report said.
Their monthly salary was 2.1 million KRW, which is subject to a deduction of 200,000 KRW for room and board. But, citing a September 2022 Korea Daily report, the research said the workers’ take-home pay ended up at just half, at 1 million KRW, because of brokers’ deductions.
What is being done about this?
In November 2023, the DMW said it was not stopping the coordination among LGUs with sisterhood agreements. However, the department asked to be involved in the vetting process.
The DMW said it was drafting guidelines with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which has jurisdiction over LGUs. These guidelines have not been released as of posting.
“But the bottom line here is we want to invoke our fair and safe recruitment laws, which means that we, that the recruitment of OFWs, should be through the DMW or through a licensed recruitment agency under a set standard, set standards of protection to ensure the welfare and protection of OFWs,” DMW officer-in-charge Hans Cacdac was quoted as saying in an ABS-CBN report. – Rappler.com
1 KRW = P0.042