DFA urged to solve OFW identity crisis

Published : Wednesday, November 28, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 15

Written by : Ryan Ponce Pacpaco

THE chairman of the House committee on overseas workers affairs strongly urged yesterday Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to move for the reconsideration of an Italian government “discriminatory” policy exposing some 200,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to “identity crisis” as their middle names are deleted in all their documents.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello, the panel’s chairman, said the Aquino administration through Del Rosario should resist the policy as OFWs in Italy have been encountering concerns on insurance claims and legal problems to those with similar names that appear in the police computer database.

Bello cited great injustice if OFWs would not get their insurance claims out of discrepancy in the names on the passport and the Italian documents, adding that the policy contained in the circular only applies to Filipinos while other foreign residents in Italy are still allowed to use their middle names in their Italian documents.

“We have heard this problem in the (House) committee and the DFA promised to look into the matter. My position is that the Philippine government should request the Italian government to make an exception of Filipinos and allow them to use their middle names in official documents,” Bello stressed in an interview.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan agreed with Bello, stressing that a high-level approach through President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III should be made to help OFWs in Italy.

“This is a crisis and no less than President Aquino should plead in behalf of the Filipinos,” Ilagan said in a separate interview.

“You know that issue was raised by Gabriela two years ago. The OFWs were collecting the names of those who were going to be affected. Even during the budget hearings, Gabriela badgered the DFA. But the DFA could not give a definitive course of action. Now, pumutok na ang problema,” she added. Under the Italian circular, only the first name and surname are to be used by OFWs. 

CREDIT: http://journal.com.ph/

Italian gov’t urged to allow Pinoy workers to use middle names

ANDREO CALONZO, GMA NEWS November 27, 2012 4:40pm

The chairperson of the House committee on overseas workers affairs on Tuesday urged the Italian government not to implement a directive asking overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to drop their middle names.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said the Italian Ministry of Labor should allow OFWs to use their full names because removing their middle names will have “legal and cultural ramifications.”

“Alam naman natin na there are a lot of Filipino with the same first and last names. In fact, that is such a central concern. Baka mamaya, may kapangalan ka na criminal. You will be immediately be tagged as somebody na the government has to have some degree of vigilance on,” Bello said in an interview.

He added that he has already conveyed this concern to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) through committee hearings on the issue he held in the past weeks.

In October 2010, the Italian Ministry of Labor issued Circular No. 29 asking Filipinos living and working in Italy to omit their middle names from official documents so as not to confuse them with their first names. Italians do not use middle names.

Bello also described the Italian government’s circular as “discriminatory”                

Government urged to appeal Italy's 'middle name rule'

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

TWO party-list legislators urged Tuesday President Benigno Aquino III to appeal the Italy Ministry of Labor's Circular 29 ordering Filipinos living and working in the southern European state to "drop their middle names" in official documents.

Akbayan party-list Representative Walden Bello, chairman of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, said the Aquino administration, through Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, should resist the policy as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are facing an "identity crisis" in Italy.

"We have heard this problem in the (House) committee and the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) promised to look into the matter. My position is that the Philippine government should request the Italian government to make an exception of Filipinos and allow them to use their middle names in official documents," Bello said.

Gabriela party-list Representative Luzviminda Ilagan echoed Bello's sentiment, saying Aquino himself "should plead" in behalf of all OFWs working in Italy.

The Italian government ordered the dropping of middle names to avoid confusion in the use of middle names. Italians do not have middle names.

Circular 29 has affected over 200,000 Filipinos living and working in Italy. OFWs reportedly paid P2,500 each for the dropping of their middle names from Italian documents. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)

Thousands of OFWs in Italy face identity crisis, huge expenses

Published : Monday, November 26, 2012 00:00 

Article Views : 82

Written by : Lee Ann Ducusin

A group of overseas Filipino workers in Italy yesterday said hundreds of thousands of Filipino migrant workers there are facing identity problems with the dropping of their middle name in all their Italian documents.

Bro. Junn Felix Landicho, founder of Task Force OFW, complained that the problem arose when former Philippine Ambassador to Italy Romeo Manalo issued a “note verbale” concurring with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Circolare 29 which restricts the use of the middle names of Filipinos in their documents.

Landicho said that because of Manalo’s agreement, OFWs will have to spend hundreds, if not thousands of Euros since it will cost them about P2,500 per document to have them revised.

He has already requested for an immediate dialogue with Manalo’s replacement, Ambassador Virgilio Reyes Jr., for a rectification on the grievous “faux pas.”

“This faux pas has put the OFWs in a quandary. We should not be penalized by the cost, difficulties and inconvenience involved in the process of amending the papers, documents, permits, and employment contracts,” Landicho stressed.

Meanwhile, Carlito Senicolas, Task Force OFW vice-president, is in Manila to gather support for the group’s opposition to the previous ambassador’s action.

Senicolas has visited the office of Senate deputy majority leader Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, also the chair on committee on labor, who promised his office will look into the problem.

Estrada and chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, also received a copy of the signature campaign against the “middle name dropping.”

Senicolas, accompanied by migration expert Emmanuel Geslani, also went to Malacañang to give the letter regardingthe issue.

The group also discussed the problem with Susan Ople, head of the Blas Ople Policy Center, whose main advocacy is the protection of migrant workers.

CREDIT: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/40041-thousands-of-ofws-in-italy-face-identity-crisis-huge-expenses