Elanel Egot Ordidor's criticism of Duterte's epidemic prevention policy has attracted the attention of the Philippine media (Photo: Philippine media screenshot).
A series of disputes over Philippine labor department's threat to deport a Filipino migrant worker due to her criticism to president Duterte had sparked a heated debate in the Philippines and Taiwan. It also revealed the problem behind the absurd broker system between this two countries.
People's dilemma in the pandemic
When Elanel Egot Ordidor, who works as a caregiver in Yunlin County, talked to us by Internet at late night, she had accepted several interviews from Filipino media that day.
"It's my principle to speak for those who cannot speak, and what I said is all truth that are happening now. Government must hear the voice from the people."
The government of the Philippines had lockdowned Luzon and other islands to contain the pandemic since mid-March. However, prolonged suspension of economic activity had already brought severe impact to many workers, especially workers in informal sector.
"People lost their jobs and payment. Food production and other manufactures stopped. Soon we would probably be unable to buy daily needs. It's gonna be a huge crisis."
April 12, Elanel put a video criticizing President Duterte's negligence to people's difficult economic predicament on Facebook, which soon went virus and made her a famous figure online.
Yet it also triggered much attack from Duterte's supporters. "They don't care about the message I am trying to tell. They just want to defame me and distort what I said as slander against the president."
As the online conflict escalated and attracted more and more attention, officials from the Philippine government also pressed Elanel to retract her criticism.
Labor attaché Fidel Macauyag from Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), which is under Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), alleged that Ms. Ordidor had violated Cybercrime Prevention Act and threat to deport her after she refused to apologize for her comment.
Discord between two governments
Philippine department of Labor and Employment(DOLE) then released a statement on April 25, accusing Ms. Ordidor of causing hatred amidst the global health crisis and organizing to discredit and malign the president and destabilize the government.
The statement also indicated that POLO had coordinated with her broker and employer on her deportation on the basis of her offense under Philippine Law.
DOLE's statement stirred strong backlash against Philippine government's violation of freedom of expression and infringement of Taiwan's sovereignty.
On the next day, Philippine Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque responded to this event, denying that Philippine government were seeking to deport Ms. Ordidor. He said the government would leave this case to Taiwan's authorities but reiterated that the state can derogate freedom of expression when there is a national emergency.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expressed its position on April 27, stressing that Taiwan is an independent state and migrant workers' right are protected under Taiwan's law as Taiwan's citizen. MOFA also asked Philippine legal authorities to seek mutual legal assistance with Taiwan's government through formal diplomatic channel if Ms. Ordidor had been determined breaking the law under legal process.
Angelito Banayo, Chairman of MECO, apologized to MOFA on April 28 and said he wouldn't countenance any curtailment of the freedom of expression, noting his personal experience of being charged of libel for criticizing a top Philippine government official on a newspaper column.
It seemed that the two governments had come to an accord that Philippine government wouldn't seek to deport Ms. Ordidor without following mutual legal assistance agreement with Taiwan. And both government's representatives also emphasized the protection of freedom of expression, which seemed to indicate that Ms. Ordidor may not be charged for her video.
Yet, discord rose up again when Mr. Roque said the government "leave that wholly to the decision of Taiwan and China" and "Taiwan is part of China" on April 29. This statement had triggered strong backlash from Taiwan's government and many Taiwanese people.
Deportation through dismissal?
April 28, while Philippine government was trying to quell disturbance, another incident flurried Mr. Ying-Dah Wong, the director of migrant worker shelter of Serve the People Association. Ms. Ordidor told him that she got a message from the broker saying that she would be taken to the office of labor department of Yunlin County government and would be deported the next day.
Mr. Wong soon made a call to an official in the labor department and he was told that this would not happen. However, the broker sent people to come to Ms. Ordidor's residence the next morning, asking her to come with them to MECO's Taichung office. Ms. Ordidor refused but finally she agree to accept a mediation by labor department of Yunlin County government with her employer and the broker.
"When have you seen labor department initiating a mediation without labor dispute?" Mr. Wong said. He was worried that the mediation was set up to dismiss Ms. Ordidor and sent her back to the Philippines.
"Even though migrant workers are entitled to have a 60-days period to transform to new employer by Taiwan's law, but there are numerous workers being sent back forcibly by brokers during the resettlement period." Mr. Wong said. "Once they're back to the Philippines, there's no way for them to appeal."
Fortunately, Ms. Ordidor and her employer had come to an agreement to keep her job until the contract expire in 2022. Ms. Ordidor also refused to sign the declaration prepared by the broker which required her to "stop spreading her opinion" but agreed to be prudent to speak.
The excessive power of POLO
"While POLO is under MECO, they are in fact two independent institutions. The former belongs to labor administrative system and the later diplomatic system." Mr. Wong said. "POLO has a stranglehold on brokers since it can suspend their permission to recruit workers in the Philippines arbitrarily." This power makes POLO get whatever they want from the brokers.
Mr. Wong speculated that the motivation behind this event is labor administrative system's display of allegiance to president Duterte. Therefore, he worried that POLO will press brokers to dismiss Ms. Ordidor and bring her back to turn things around.
Among labor disputes that Mr. Wong had assisted, even if not as political as Ms. Ordidor's case, brokers often tried to send workers to POLO's shelter, letting POLO convince workers to settle down with employers and transform to other employers or go back home as soon as possible. That's because what POLO cares is to import labors steadily and avoid labor disputes to affect the importation.
Mr. Wong said POLO's labor attaché Fidel Macauyag used to work with brokers to resolve problem quickly and block workers to get in touch with NGOs.