SANTIAGO 10 October 2018 — In order to make Filipino workers aware of their rights and responsibilities in Chile, the Philippine Embassy in Santiago organized a seminar on the new migration law at the OTIC Convention Center in Providencia, Santiago on 22 September 2018.Under the ambit of Gender and Development (GAD), the Embassy organized a Seminar on the New Chilean Migration Law Affecting OFWs with Pointers on Women Empowerment, with more than 150 Filipino nationals attending, majority of them female household service workers (HSWs).
Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Marcos A.S. Punsalang said that the seminar aims to make Filipino workers aware of new migration and labor developments under the new Piñera administration, to empower them and lessen their vulnerabilities, and to uphold their rights and safeguard their welfare while in Chile.
Chile is home to approximately 760 Filipinos—93 percent of them women and most of them working in Chilean households. This makes them highly vulnerable to abuses by employers and/or agencies owing to the workers’ lack of awareness about migration and labor laws.
Attorney Viviana Moya Cañales of the Victim Support Project of the Chilean Ministry of Interior and who works closely with SERNAM (Women’s National Agency), the Crime and Victim Support Center in La Cisterna and other non-governmental organizations, also served as resource person.
Attorney Moya is known for being an advocate of women’s rights and gender equality, and also served as the Embassy’s resource person and adviser on women empowerment issues and combating sexual harassment in the past.
Consul Dennis Briones and Embassy personnel facilitated a candid 40-minute open forum about labor and migration issues.
The Philippine Embassy has more GAD projects planned for the year, including a sports fest for OFWs, and a publication of a booklet on labor and immigration issues in Chile.
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For more information, visit www.santiagope.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinChile.
