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.
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