When export of labor becomes a liability

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

On August 23, 2010, President Aquino had barely warmed his seat in Malacanang when a disgruntled police officer hijacked a tourist bus and took hostage several Hongkong tourists, touching off a crisis that tested Aquino’s mettle in leadership and diplomacy. Eight of the tourists were killed along with the hijacker in the bungled rescue operation that was witnessed by the entire nation and replayed many times over in Hongkong and China.

Aquino barely escaped that crisis, but not after profuse apologies and intense negotiations, not to mention the threats on Filipino workers in Hongkong and the adverse effects on the country’s tourism.

Relatives of fisherman killed by Philippine Coast Guard

Now it’s happening again. Aquino has barely enjoyed the sweet smell of success in the senatorial elections when another diplomatic crisis came crashing in. Philippine Coast Guard crew members of a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) ship caught four Taiwanese fishermen on board a small ship apparently poaching on Philippine waters off Batanes and shot at the fishing boat when it allegedly tried to ram the BFAR vessel, killing one fisherman.

The shooting sparked a diplomatic crisis that could cause greater damage than the 2010 incident.

Still sporting from another diplomatic row over the deportation by the Philippine government of 14 Taiwanese nationals to China in February 2011, the Taiwan government reacted angrily by imposing sanctions on the Philippines and threatening to freeze hiring of Filipino workers. The Taiwanese government immediately imposed travel restrictions to Taiwanese wishing to visit the Philippines, dispatched ships and jets to the scene of the incident, and recalled its trade representative. Taiwan demanded that the Philippine government make a formal apology, compensate the family of the victim, punish the guilty, and start bilateral talks on a fisheries agreement to avoid similar incidents in the future.

Just as it appeared confused in the 2010 hostage incident, Malacanang sent mixed signals to the Taiwanese by refusing to allow a Taiwan investigation team to join a probe of the incident while immediately sending a personal envoy to Taipei to express the government’s apology both to the family and the Taiwanese officialdom after Taiwan threatened to freeze hiring of Filipino workers. The Philippines later agreed to a parallel probe.

Although it appears that the Coast Guard was justified to shoot at the Taiwanese ship because it seems inconceivable that the crew would shoot at the fishing boat without any provocation, the Philippines is obviously on the weaker side of the diplomatic row. The country has more than 85,000 workers in Taiwan, mostly in the manufacturing sector, and about 2,000 more are recruited every month. In addition, Taiwanese tourists comprised more than 5 percent of tourist arrivals or a total of 216,511 last year.

At the same time, the Philippines was caught at a wrong time to be at odds with its neighbor Taiwan. President Ma Ying-jeou’s approval rating has dropped to a low 14 percent because of his poor handling of Taiwan’s economy, which registered one of the lowest growths in Asia last year, and it’s certain he would squeeze dry the diplomatic row to regain the trust of his people.

Also, China is exerting all efforts to win over Taiwan, which it considers its province, and would also use the incident to boost such efforts while also adding pressure to its own dispute with the Philippines over the Spratly Islands.

Taiwan Prime Minister Jiang Yi-huah, meantime, said that its 11 sanctions against the Philippines will most probably stay for a long period, and alerted the Taiwanese people “to prepare for a long war” on the issue.

Other than sending the two formal apologies, President Aquino, to his credit, has so far stood his ground against the Taiwanese as he rejected Ma’s claim of murder, refused to personally apologize to the Taiwanese leader, and remains firm against allowing Taiwanese investigators to jointly probe the incident with Philippine officers.

If the investigation proves that the Coast Guard was indeed justified to respond to the Taiwanese fishermen’s provocation, the Philippines should continue to stand its ground against Taiwan. We cannot allow all countries where we have substantial overseas workers to bully us each time such a diplomatic row erupts.

The Aquino administration seems a magnet for diplomatic crises. Since it took over the reins of government in 2010, it has had diplomatic tussles with Hongkong, China, Cambodia, Malaysia and now Taiwan. In all these crises, the government had to tiptoe its way through mainly because of the presence of overseas Filipino workers in these countries, except in Cambodia where Aquino was not worried about locking horns with the Cambodian government.

The country has been bullied by its neighbors – China, Malaysia and now Taiwan – simply because it stands to lose precious dollar remittances from its workers in these countries. That’s the problem with relying deeply on the export of labor for economic growth – the country becomes fodder for bullying countries.

The diplomatic rows with Hongkong in 2010, the prolonged dispute with China over the Spratlys, the diplomatic row with Malaysia over the followers in the Sultan of Sulu in North Borneo, and this crisis with Taiwan should serve as a reminder to the Aquino administration that it cannot continue to rely on OFW remittances for its economic growth and that it cannot allow Filipinos to be exposed to abuse and harassment each time incidents of this nature occur.

(valabelgas@aol.com)