Ambassador Jose Brilliantes: ‘OFWs — third pillar in foreign policy’

Ambassador Jose Brilliantes: ‘OFWs — third pillar in foreign policy’

TORONTO–A third pillar has been added to what used to be a two-pronged foreign affairs policy of the Philippine government, Philippine Ambassador to Canada, Jose Brilliantes told members of the Filipino-Canadian media on Saturday, April 7.

This third pillar is the protection and promotion of the interest and well-being of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the previous two being, political security and economic diplomacy, Brilliantes said.
The third pillar was added, he said, because of the growing importance of the contributions of the over 8 million OFWs all over the world. The total OFW remittances to the Philippines have now reached a whopping U.S.$13.2 billion, which is approximately 1.1 trillion Philippine pesos, roughly equivalent to the total amount of the Philippine national budget, Brilliantes revealed during the Philippine Press Club-Ontario’s Almusalan held Saturday, April 7, at the Casa Manila Restaurant in Toronto.

Brilliantes then went on to mention the various kinds of assistance that have been extended, he said, by the Philippine foreign missions, citing among them the evacuation of workers from Iraq during the early stage of the war. He said assistance would even be enhanced now, as announced by the Department of Foreign Affairs during a recent meeting whereby 61 Philippine ambassadors and heads of foreign missions were summoned from their overseas offices to Manila.

During the question period, however, a media representative raised the issue of a live-in-caregiver who had died but was not promptly attended to by the Philippine foreign mission and labour attache’s office, such that her body remained in a Toronto morgue for two months before it was finally transported to the Philippines. The reason given by the Philippine labour attache’s office to the relatives of the deceased was that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) had no funds. Overseas workers pay to the OWWA fund which is intended to assist them during emergency situations. The Ambassador said that OWWA funds should have been made available right away for the transport of the body if the OFW was member of OWWA.

Asked about the political killings in the Philippines which had generated worldwide attention and action from the Permanent People’s Tribunal in the Hague, the United Nations, and the U.S. Congress among others, Brilliantes said that the Philippine government is already doing something about it. He said the Melo Commission, which had first investigated the case, had been reconvened, this time, to include in its investigation the relatives of the victims, and not just the members of the military, he said. He insisted that the killings should not be called “extrajudicial killings,” now reaching more than 830, as there is no such thing as a judicial killing in the Philippines, as the death penaty had been abolished. He said they should be called “unexplained killings.”

He was silent on the fact that the Melo Commission, United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, Amnesty International and other international bodies had attributed the killings to Philippine military elements and forces.

He was asked whether he was aware of the proposed charter change provisions allowing 100% foreign ownership of certain sectors of the economy including natural resources, and what his opinion was about the matter. The Ambassador replied that he was not aware of any details regarding the matter, although he had heard there was such as an initiative. He did not, however, give his opinion about the move.

Asked about the status of Philippine government efforts to advocate for the Canadian government’s signing of the United Nations Convention for the protection of migrant workers rights, which seemed to be taking such a long time, Brilliantes said the efforts continue, as he continues to sit in the UN body in-charge of this issue.