{"id":233324,"date":"2019-10-03T03:41:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=233324"},"modified":"2019-10-03T03:41:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:41:59","slug":"labor-deal-to-help-ofws-secure-russian-visas-envoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/03\/labor-deal-to-help-ofws-secure-russian-visas-envoy\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor deal to help OFWs secure Russian visas: envoy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Russian Federation Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev exchange pleasantries prior to the start of the bilateral meeting at the Coconut Palace in Pasay City on November 13, 2017. (Photo by Ace Morandante\/Presidential Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— With the rise in the number of Filipino workers in Russia, Philippine Ambassador Carlos Sorreta is hoping that the Philippines and Russia would soon strike a bilateral labor agreement to provide them with visas.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past few years,\u00a0dumami po ang pumupuntang<\/em>\u00a0Russia\u00a0at nagtatrabaho. Dahil walang<\/em>\u00a0agreement,\u00a0kokonti lang ang may<\/em>\u00a0legal visa\u00a0para<\/em>\u00a0specific\u00a0doon sa trabaho nila na<\/em>\u00a0caretaker or household service worker (For the past few years, more Filipinos are going to Russia for work. Because there is no agreement, there are very few with legal visas specific for their works such as a caretaker or household service worker),\u201d Sorreta said in a media interview at the Philippine Embassy in Moscow on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yan po\u2019y maso<\/em>-solve hopefully with the bilateral labor agreement\u00a0na tinatrabaho na namin<\/em>\u00a0(Hopefully, that will be solved with a bilateral labor agreement we are currently working on),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Sorreta said he was expecting President Rodrigo R. Duterte to raise the issue on visas in his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the President and I think he will raise it,\u00a0malaking tulong ho \u2018yun sa aming trabaho para maisulong ang isang<\/em>\u00a0bilateral labor agreement (It will be a big help for us to push for the bilateral labor agreement),\u201d Sorreta said.<\/p>\n

Once a bilateral labor deal is signed, the envoy said that Filipino workers in Russia would be granted legal status. Moreover, he said he would also be pushing for legalization or amnesty for Filipino workers in Russia.<\/p>\n

Sorreta said there are currently about 10,000 Filipino workers in Russia with 90 to 95 percent of that number working as nannies or household service workers.<\/p>\n

However, he said that only \u201cvery few\u201d Filipinos are legally working in Russia because there are only about a hundred legal visas available for nannies and household service workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest do not have this visa to work here. But they work here. They are doing very well,\u201d Sorreta said.<\/p>\n

Sorreta said that Filipino workers are also faced with the challenge of competing with Russian nannies and household service workers for jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201c‘Yung trabaho ng<\/em>\u00a0nanny\u00a0at saka<\/em>\u00a0household service worker,\u00a0kayang gawin ng<\/em>\u00a0Russian.\u00a0Meron mga<\/em>\u00a0Russians\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0available and willing to do the work. So\u00a0medyo hindi mabuksan \u2018yung — madagdagan \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0criteria\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0visa\u00a0para doon sa mga<\/em>\u00a0household service workers or nannies (Russians can work as nannies and household service workers. There are Russians available and willing to do the work. So we\u2019re having trouble opening\u2026adding criteria in the visa for household service workers or nannies),\u201d Sorreta said.<\/p>\n

Sorreta cautioned against illegal recruitment as it would lessen the chances of sealing a bilateral labor deal between the Philippines and Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuwag muna ho mag<\/em>-recruit\u00a0para ho mabigyan kami ng oportunidad na maayos ang<\/em>\u00a0status\u00a0nila dito<\/em>\u00a0(Don\u2019t illegally recruit so we would be allowed to fix their status here),\u201d Sorreta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKailangan kasi natin patunayan sa<\/em>\u00a0Russian government\u00a0na marunong tayo sumunod sa kanilang batas at mas tataas \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0trust and understanding\u00a0para<\/em>\u00a0basis\u00a0para mag<\/em>-negotiate (We have to prove to the Russian government that we know how to follow their laws and that we have high trust and understanding to be a basis for negotiation),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The envoy said that the embassy reports every single instance of illegal recruitment or human trafficking to its home office in Manila.<\/p>\n

According to him, the embassy has not yet reported a case of an employer physically hurting their Filipino employee but just one sexual assault case they are currently pursuing.<\/p>\n

The embassy is also assisting and providing funds for Filipinos in their repatriation. In recent weeks, they have had 17 repatriations to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the embassy assisting\u2026\u00a0Kasi nga ho madaming walang<\/em>\u00a0(Because there are many without) visa so many decide to go home. So we assist them to exit,\u201d Sorreta sad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a violation of Russian law. You\u2019re here undocumented. I don\u2019t want to say illegal. So we have to go through a process\u00a0para hindi sila ma<\/em>-detain.\u00a0Para makaalis<\/em>\u00a0(so that they don\u2019t get detained. So that they can leave). So we help them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Sorreta, meanwhile, vowed to provide assistance to all Filipino workers in Russia and never turn anyone away.<\/p>\n

Duterte is currently in Russia for a five-day state visit.\u00a0(<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— With the rise in the number of Filipino workers in Russia, Philippine Ambassador Carlos Sorreta is hoping that the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":131114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233325,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233324\/revisions\/233325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}