필리핀

EPS

(

외국인

고용허가제

)

근로자

협회

공식

발행

–

대

한민국

The Voice of the Modern Living Heroes

The Official Publication of Filipino EPS Workers Association-South Korea (FEWA)

Volume 2 Issue 9 2010 www.sulyapinoy.org NOT FOR SALE

필리핀

EPS

외국인

고용허가제

근로자

협회

공식

발행

–

대

한민국

INSI

E THIS ISSUE

Extension of the VoluntaryDeparture Program

SULYAPINOY is The OfficialPublication of Filipino EPSWorkers Association-South Korea(FEWA)

EPS Happy ReturnProgram

Filipino Migrant Workers andthe Wages of Peace

FILIPOS

Workshop

OFW-KOREA-200

-001

Magtanong kay Amba

Mga Aral sa Patimpalak

OWWA News Editorial Feature

By Maria Lourdes Espinola

The event was mainly participatedin by the active officers, membersand volunteers of FEWA. In partici-pation were groups from theHyehwadong community such asFilipino Photographers in SouthKorea (FILIPOS) and a group fromthe Incheon Filipino community.They were formed into four teams: Yellow Python, Green Mantis, Red Ants, and Blue Hornets. The eventwas started with an openingprayer led by Mr.

oel Tavaro,from the Prayer Partners group,followed by the openingspeech and welcome addressof Mr. Marcelino Serde

ṅ

a III,FEWA president.The high school playing courtwas filled with

oy as eachteam enthusiastically deliveredtheir cheers in songs and ac-companied choreographies. Among the games includevolleyball, basketball, sack race,

Patintero

and eggthrowing game.Tired but smiling playersgathered again at the play-ing court as the FEWA presi-dent presented awards tothe teams. The Yellow Py-thon was hailed as the over-all champion, followed by 1

place Blue Hornets, 2

placeRed Ants and 3

placeGreen Mantis.

People and God-centered Association

SULYAPINOY is accepting cash donations for its monthly printing expenses. You may deposit them

Account

: 1002

0 33

730 / Acnt Name: Marcelino M. / Bank: Woori Bank - Hyehwa-dong Branch

EWA

–

In its ob

ective to pro-mote camaraderie among theorganization members, as well as toother communities in South Korea,Filipino EPS Workers Association(FEWA) held its second sports meet,entitled FEWALYMPICS. More than50 people were gathered thatmorning of September 23, 2010 atthe Tongsong High School groundsto have fun and take advantage of the autumn weather during theChuseok (Thanksgiving) holidays.

Photo by Samuel Grado

Opinion

FVR Giving a Speech duringHis Visit to Korea lastSept 13, 2010

(Ed: Dondave

abay or Sir Dave,is going back to the Philippines and uncertain of coming back to Korea should a business feasibil- ity studies he will conduct turns out well. We asked him to share his inspiring experience as an active volunteer and officer of FEWA/SULYAPINOY and FILI- POS. This is his reflection piece which I made a fitting title.)

I came to Korea in

une 1, 200

,but it took for more than a yearbefore I started my unexpectedpublic service role to my kababa-yan particularly the EPS workersBefore I

oined Sulyapinoy, I hada little background about EPS

obbut I have heard from several friendsthat EPS

ob is a 3D

ob which meansdifficult, dangerous, and dirty. Atthat time I could not totally feel what3D

ob is because literally I neversaw our kababayan in Korea workingas hard as a laborer in our country.Not until I started my volunteer work for Sulyapinoy and FEWA which isthe forefront of different issues andproblems experienced by many EPSworkers such as discrimination, un-paid salary and other benefits man-dated by the Korean labor law, unfairEPS policy, and most especially EPSworkers' lack of knowledge of their(

to be continued on page 3)

Photo courtesy of www.koreatimes.co.kr

SEPTEMBER 2010

Ako po si Felix

umarang, gusto ko lang poibahagi sa inyo ang magandang balita na nagawanamin may 5 buwan na po ang nakakaraan. Kami poay nakapagligtas ng isang batang estudyante babaemula tangkang panggagahasa (attempted rape)noong ika 17 ng Mayo 2010, malapit sa factory naminsa Nayang-

u si, Ilpaedong, Guri City.Bandang ika-10 ng gabi nang kumatok po sa gatenamin ang isang kapitbahay na Korean na nagmamay-ari ng isang convenient store malapit sa am-ing tinitirahan. Humingi po siyang ng tulong at itin-uro nya ang isang lalaki na patakas na aming hinabolat nahuli. Tinulungan namin ang estudyanteng babaena duguan at itinawag ang krimen sa mga pulis naagad namang tumugon. Ang amin pong salaysay ay mabasa din sa ulat ngGuri Community Center. Kasama ko po sina LarryBayasen, Rizalino Tawagen, Ben

amen Vinluan,

omarMarco,

ayson Ibarra, anim po kaming lahat na nag-tulong-tulong at magkakasama sa pagligtas sabatang babae mula sa kapahamakan. Dahil po saundocumented ang iba naming kasama hiling ponamin na mabigyan din sila ng kaukulang pagkilaladito sa Sulyapinoy.Maraming salamat po at mabuhay po kayo

www.sulyapinoy.org

Vice-President

omar Binay and Ambassador Luis Cruz, right, awarded medals of honor tothree Filipino workers last August 2010. They deserve such honor after rescuing a KoreanHighschool Student in Namyang

u, Gyeonggi Province .

The month of September this year marks the

Anniversary when Filipino soldiers landedin Busan, and together with Allied na-tions provided help to South Korea in securingpeace from its communist North Korean

“

brother

”

. The bitter differences in ideologycompounded by other external and internalfactors brought Korea into a tragic civil war that

escalated to become part of the superpowers’

cold war, separating the peninsula. Much haschanged

0 years after

;

there’s a standing

armistice, the North and South technically re-mains to be at war or in a situation of negativepeace.But here in South Korea positive peace is amuch desired condition. Particularly for migrantworkers, their battle and struggle are thoseof structural violence they are experiencing inthe workplace and in Korean society. Theseare physical and verbal abuses, ill treatment,discrimination and other forms of violations of their rights and dignity as a person. Consider-ing that the generations of the current Filipinomigrant workers here in Korea could be kin,relatives or sons and daughters, of thosewho fought for South Koreans to gain its inde-pendence, this time to fight against poverty and

for their family’s economic emancipation at the

home front. Filipinos continue to pay for thewages of peace here in Korea: yesterday as sol-diers, today as migrant workers.One wonders if it is too much for the Koreangovernment to share dividends of its peace andeconomic security, translated as fair treatmentand respect of

migrant workers’ rights

. Migrantworkers help a lot those small scale industriesand agricultural businesses to survive. Theseare blue collar

obs and manual labor that the

country’s educated populace and young genera

-tion would not venture into.Working relations and conditions are bad formost of the migrant workers. They work longhours, even on Saturdays, as much as possibleno Sundays or holidays.Their works are literally back-breaking. Imagine aworker who plants rocks or boulders on top of hillsand mountains that he carries on his back, thewhole day, five, six, maybe even seven times aweek. Some workers continue to demand propercompensation for their labor. Although most arehappy to have a

ob, the purpose for which theycame here, but never realized that they would bereduced into pitiable lamentations of a soldier.With the upcoming G20 Summit this November,

there’s a continued crackdown of

undocumentedworkers. This is an ongoing

„

peaceless’ situation

in the labor front. Although amnesty is beingextended to those who would voluntarily surren-der, some are not availing it for the lack of guar-antee of possible and future

ob security. As ex-perienced by those previous undocumentedworkers who voluntarily left Korea, they are nowcomplaining for not being allowed to re-apply forwork here. Migrant workers are advocating thatthey be consulted to further improve the Employ-ment Permit System (EPS) which is causing theselabor problems and issues.Filipino Korean war veterans are old, and theirdescendants among the migrant workers arewithered by harsh and improperly compen-sated labor. The wages for positive peace re-mains too elusive to attain, and so, the strugglefor real and lasting peace continues.

ITO

R’

SNOTE

By Mind Cataract

SULYAPINOY Office Address:

115-9 Songbuk-gu, Songbuk 1 dong, Songbuk Villa, Seoul, Korea 13

-020

FEWA Office & SULYAPINOY Distribution Center:

Inside WOORI BANK, Hyehwa-dong Branch,

ongno-gu, Seoul

Pete Rahon

Editor-in-chief

Corinna Bianca Estari

FeatUre/Managing Editor

Raechelle Montalbo

Lay-out Editor

Rhean de los Reyes, Maria LourdesEspinola, Mind Cataract, Boladas ni Blue-man

Contributors

Rodel Arias, Lito Libunag, Alwyin Casino, Ismael Calandrina

Circulation Managers

Cathy Rose Garcia

AdviserChairman :

Dondave

abay

Vice Chairman:

ulius Caesar Ocampo

Secretary:

enn Betacura

Printing & Distribution:

Ben

ie Del Mundo

Budget & Finance:

Theo Camo

Outreach & Religious Programs:

Ma. Lourdes Espinola

Website Dev't. and Maintenance:

Christian Robles

Sponsorship & Promotion:

Annabelle Lopez, A

uilino

uanites

r., Sofonias Paragsa, & Rodel Arias

Training & Workshop:

Noel

oseph Alvarez

Consultants :

Fr. Alvin B. Parantar, MSPProf. Emely Dicolen-AbagatMa. Regina P. Ar

uiza

The stagnancy and complacency of living inthat thought, without having to find anddemand more from oneself can be said todistinguish the continued downward spiral of our country. Complain of incompetence andinsufficiencies where they are warranted.

But don’t forget to look at the sand in your

own eye, for that is where change may start.

Call it optimism, but it is downright better

than having no hope for one’s self

So in response to those who generalizeand hate, let them. Having emotions andletting it out is what makes us human. Butwhat makes them and us truly above therest of the species is if after the grief andthe embarrassment, we can prove ourselvesto be capable of critical thinking. It isthrough our ability to evaluate and calmlytell for ourselves what the

thinking man

cando and will do in response to that animalisticinstinct. It is through being able to tell thedifference of actions, decisions, and

sensibil- ity

that we set ourselves apart. Only thencan you call yourself different.

(

continued from Sulyapinoy’s August

2010 issue)

Daniel Wagner (Huffington Post:

“

The Phil-ippine Bus and Miss Universe

”

) expressedhis reaction to both incidents

uite aptly. Asisolated as these may be, the people shouldnot be satisfied with these inade

uacies andshould be the first to demand improvements.We are being left behind, and it is not help-ing that we give excuses for these lackingskills and capabilities.The constancy of the past glories of thecountry and living in that memory are caus-ing us to get left behind by our neighbours.Especially for the workers in this host coun-try, how many times have you heard thelocals say that they used to admire ourcountry because of all the help, the kind-ness and the prosperity we used to en

oycompared to all the countries in Asia

SEPTEMBER 2010

www.sulyapinoy.org

For Comments, Suggestions, Contributions& Advertisements,

e-mail: editorialstaff

sulyapinoy.orgor sulyap.editorialstaff

gmail.com



SULYAPINOY observes the Philippine PressCode of Ethics .

ERRATUM

Of Debacles and Futures by Mind Cataracthas only 2 parts, unlike what was pub-lished last month stating it has 3 parts.

EDITORIAL STAFF BOARD OF PUBLICATION

(

continued from page 3)

rights based on labor laws. Siguro ang isa sapinaka-hindi ko makakalimutan being a vol-unteer of FEWA/Sulyapinoy is my level of knowledge on the Korea labor laws and pol-icy. I feel a little bit awkward because Iknow Korean labor laws and the rights of workers more than that of the Philip-pines. But I am proud of it because it is thebest way for me to help our kababayan inmy own little ways, considering my ownlimitation as an OFW. I will always cherishbeing busy (daig pa ang pagiging busy sareal work) doing multitasking for Sulyapinoynewsletter: writing, editing, layout and man-aging publication

;

receiving 3-5 phone calls aday or receiving 5-10

uestions thru Sulyapi-noy Forum from our kababayan asking

D I S C L A I M E R

Different opinions are encourage to stimulatemember input and involvement.

SULYAPI-

NOY’

s role is to provide information that per-mits

FEWA

members to develop informed opin-ions on sub

ects that will affect their statusas migrant workers and, in some instances,their personal lives. FEWA does not hold itself responsible for statements made by any con-tributor. Statements or opinions expressed inSULYAPINOY reflect the views of the author(s)and not the official policy of FEWA unless sostated.

guidance and

uestions such as: kung anoang proseso sa paglilipat ng ibang com-pany

;

kung tama ang sahod

;

paano compu-tation ng salary at deductions

;

at kungpaano ipaglaban ang karapatan bilang em-ployee. Hindi ko rin po makakalimutan angnaging role ko noong ipinaglaban ng mgaOFWs dito sa Korea ang planong pagkuhasana ng SSS ng pera ng mga OFWs comingfrom National Pension where I did a ma

orresearch about SSS-NPS bilateral agree-ment. I was very happy that I was able toexplain to my kababayan the hidden motiveof SSS and encouraged them to support themassive signature campaign we launched. As a migrant worker, I believe one way topromote our rights and protect our-selves from any abusive employers is toempower ourselves by learning the laborlaws and immigration laws. How

Thru theinternet we can research/read Korean labor/immigration laws from their websites.Last but not the least, pasasalamat sa lahatnang mga taong naging part sa buhay ko asan active volunteer and officer of FEWA/SULYAPINOY at sa FILIPOS