Migrante pushes ‘Zero Remittance Day’ over flood control projects controversy
A group of migrant workers on Thursday urged fellow Filipinos abroad to halt remittances to their families for just one day as a pushback against widespread corruption in government amid revelations about kickback schemes involving billions of pesos in flood control projects.
Migrante International said that it was reviving “Zero Remittance Day,” a form of protest that was launched 12 years ago when the “pork barrel” scam was exposed.
For Migrante, the flood control projects controversy is no different from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scandal, which involved P10 billion in taxpayers’ money. Some members of Congress were found to have funneled their PDAF to nonexistent nongovernment organizations ran by businesswoman Janet Napoles in exchange for a certain percentage of the money.
The Supreme Court, however, declared the PDAF unconstitutional in November 2013, or four months after the Inquirer exposed the scheme.
“The names of the schemes keep changing, but pork barrel and corruption still prevail in the government,” said Josie Pingkihan, deputy secretary general of Migrante International and coconvener of Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot-Global.
“That is why we are showing our anger to the Marcos government: we will not send a single peso or dollar because it will only be stolen by the corrupt,” she added.
Show of solidarity
The initiative coincides with the commemoration of International Migrants Day every Dec. 18. Migrante said the zero-remittance movement also shows solidarity with the various demonstrations being held in Manila to denounce questionable insertions in the national budget.
Based on the latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, about $29 billion in cash remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were recorded for the first eight months of the year. In October alone, a total of $3.2 billion in cash was sent by Filipinos abroad.
“With the size of our contribution to the Philippine economy … what we receive in return is inversely proportional. BBM [President Bongbong Marcos] instead prioritizes fattening his pockets and clinging on to power rather than working to defend our rights,” Pingkihan said.
According to Migrante, it is expecting massive support from overseas Filipino workers in various countries and regions, including those in the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Numerous OFW organizations took part in the Sept. 19, 2013, Zero Remittance Day to protest against the pork barrel scam. Some government officials, however, said the effect on the economy was minimal as the remittances were just delayed but not totally cancelled.
