Former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has welcomed the signing of a consensus document on the protection of migrant workers by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations even as she takes credit for it as the Philippine government had taken the initiative during her presidency in 2007.
Arroyo said 10 years after efforts to have the agreement signed, she was elated that the 10-member organization has signed the Asean Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers spearheaded by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I am gratified that at (the) summit opening, President Duterte heralded the landmark signing of the Asean Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. It is the fruition of what we started in 2007,” Arroyo, in a speech during the Asean Business and Investment Summit at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Parañaque City last Tuesday,
Arroyo said during her chairmanship of the ASEAN ten years ago in 2007, she particularly pushed for the declaration to protect migrant workers within the ASEAN since she was duty-bound to protect overseas Filipino workers wherever they go.
“Let me refer to a major bottleneck on a human capital issue that I addressed during my time as President of the Philippines and during my chairmanship of ASEAN 10 years ago. That year 2007, I used my general prerogative to push for the declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers,” Arroyo said.
She said despite it being a contentious issue at that time because some ASEAN countries received workers from other member-states, she forged on because she had the obligation to protect all Filipino workers.
“It was our most contentious chairman’s initiative in the 2007 summit because in ASEAN, we have members who send workers and we have workers who receive workers, and of course they had deep differences of opinion. But we invoked our chairmanship to push that initiative, on account of so many Filipino workers overseas,” Arroyo said.
At the signing ceremony last Tuesday, President Duterte presented to ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh the recently adopted consensus document that would strengthen social protection and provide access to justice, humane and fair treatment and health services.
The consensus is considered a centerpiece of the Philippines’ chairmanship of ASEAN. It is expected to benefit some 200,000 OFWs working mostly in Singapore and Malaysia.
Arroyo also recognized the value and hardships that every OFW experience when working abroad which is why she saw the need to protect their rights through the ASEAN.
“In good times and bad, overseas Filipinos in Southeast Asia and elsewhere keep our nation resilient. I know that that is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. That is work where it can be found—among strangers with different cultures. It is lonely work, it is hard work. That is why we worked doubly hard to create good paying jobs at home, so that overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hard-working Filipino,” she said.
She added, “(b)ut for the foreseeable will continue to be heavily dependent on overseas worker remittances. On that basis that we are duty-bound to protect our citizens wherever they are. When I was president my government worked hard to strengthen workers’ protection at home and specially overseas and that is why I pushed for the protection of our migrant workers in 2007.”
Meanwhile, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte congratulated President Duterte for a “highly successful” hosting of the 31st summit and related meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and “meaningful strides” achieved during these meetings.
“The participation of world leaders such as US President Donald Trump, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, among others, in the ASEAN summit attest to the success of the gathering and ASEAN’s significance under the chairmanship of President Duterte to the direction that the global economy will take in the future,” Villafuerte said. “Their attendance underlines President Duterte’s gravitas as a global leader and affirmation, despite the incessant political noise, of his government’s commitment to the ASEAN’s shared prosperity and inclusivity despite regional diversity.”
“President Trump’s description of the Philippines as a prime military real estate sums up the value of the Philippines to the world not only to ASEAN. Under President Duterte’s leadership and successful hosting of the ASEAN, our country has shown that we are a prime destination for investments, trade, tourism and business that can no longer be overlooked,” Villafuerte added.
Villafuerte said the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings strengthened trade and investment ties with the Philippines’ economic partners not only in Asia but also with superpowers such as Russia and the United States.
He added that the outcome of the bilateral meetings held after the summit with the Philippines’ regional partners such as China and Japan will help boost the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
“The fact that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang found time to witness the signing of the agreements they had forged with our government under President Duterte highlights the importance that these two world leaders place in further reinforcing the bilateral ties that their respective countries have forged with the Philippines,” Villafuerte, member of the House committee on economic affairs, said.