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Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Get amnesty before Italy kicks you out, OFWs told
By Joshua Dancel
AS THE deadline nears before the Italian government cracks down on undocumented Filipinos, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye Tuesday urged workers to avail of the amnesty in order to avoid "another Malaysia."
Philippine Ambassador to Italy Philippe J. Lhuillier also warned that the Italian government is not going to play soft on the Filipinos and would definitely round them up come November 10, the deadline for all domestic helpers and caregivers to legalize their stay there.
"The Italian government is serious in ridding the country of illegal aliens. So, in November 10, the authorities will definitely go after Filipino workers with no permits to stay," Lhuillier said during an interview.
However, Filipino workers classified as "subordinate laborers" only have until October 9 and authorities would start rounding up unauthorized workers on October 10, he said.
Bunye, learning of the Italian government's tenacity to rid their country of illegal workers, pleaded to the undocumented OFWs there to avail of the amnesty offered by the government.
"I urge our workers there to avail of the amnesty and not wait for the last minute rush to try and beat the deadline," Bunye said.
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the new Italian Immigration Law is very clear on the deadline, stressing there would not be any extension.
"On November 10, those who fail to avail will be liable to arrest and deportation," she said.
While stressing the situation of Filipinos in Malaysia differ from that in Italy, Bunye admitted that the Palace is apprehensive that the Malaysian experience might happen in Italy.
"We really hope our OFWs will avail of the amnesty because we do not want a repeat of another Malaysian experience," Bunye said.
Some 15,000 undocumented Filipinos were banished from Malaysia, experiencing humiliation, starvation, and maltreatment from the hands of the Malaysian police.
Despite the apparent alert raised by the Secretary, Bunye still failed to concretely provide an exit plan for thousands of illegal Filipino migrant workers that could be affected by the campaign.
However, he gave assurances that the government would be prepared for any eventuality that may result from the mass deportation on November 10 onwards, without really concretely specifying how.
There are about 150,000 Filipinos in Italy. About 70,000 of that legally work there, while the rest, or about 80,000, have no work permits.
Under the new law, workers need to pay 250 to 300 euros to apply for the legalization program.
Any worker found without a permit to stay would be immediately be deported in three days after October 9 for "subordinate workers" and November 9 for domestic helpers and caregivers.
Sto. Tomas, believing the workers will avail of the program, found it unnecessary to prepare for the possible mass deportation of Filipinos from Italy.
She said many of these would either risk staying, hiding from the authorities, or skip arrest by transferring to another country.
Those who would be arrested, she said, would be deported with the Italian government paying for the fare.
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