The decision of Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to personally oversee “direct hiring” contracts between Filipinos and foreign employers, and the accompanying Memorandum Order No. 4 has whipped up a storm of protests from OFWs, including Filipino professionals.

All told, the labor department wants to get $8,000 in fees from a foreign employer who seeks to hire an OFW.

The new memorandum has sparked fears that foreign employers will desist from hiring Filipinos because of the exorbitant fees being demanded by government.

OFWs are up in arms wherever they may be: Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

Two Hong Kong-based migrant welfare institutions have released a primer on the issue that is fast galvanizing the worldwide OFW movement. Mackybaka published the primer released by the Mission for Migrant Workers (MMW) and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)

In Singapore, the Philippine embassy has announced that it would not implement the new rule, as of the moment.

Marc Javellana, writing on Pinoy Tech Blog, said:

Its bad enough that OFW’s have to contend with loneliness, being away from their families, missing out on the chance to watch their children grow up and be a positive influence in their lives. But now having your livelihood placed in jeopardy by a government that can’t even provide a decent investment climate to provide you jobs to keep you from leaving, yet happily receive your hard earned cash to help project an image of a robust economy, makes you really want to think whether or not the Philippines is really worth leaving for good.

This is yet another proof of the real status of OFWs vis-a-vis the Arroyo government. Yes, they are really heroes insofar as keeping the economy afloat through their humongous dollar remittances. But the Arroyo government treats them as milking cows.