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Japan cuts on RP workers ‘speculative’
By Mia Gonzalez
January 3, 2005
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo deems as “very speculative” persistent
reports that the number of Filipino entertainers to be allowed entry in Japan
would be drastically cut from 80,000 to 6,000 with the implementation of new
immigration rules in that country.
Romulo said in a news conference in Malaca?ang that the cut is not expected to
be as big as reported because Philippine officials have been working for the
Japanese government to accept the accreditation system of the Philippine
government in determining whether inbound entertainers are legitimate or not.
“That statement—80,000 to 6,000—is very speculative,” he said.
He said the President had sent chairman Dante Ang of the Commission on Overseas
Filipinos (COF) to meet with representatives of the Japanese entertainment
industry, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose Brillantes and Labor
Undersecretary Danilo Cruz to meet with Japanese authorities.
“I think we are batting for our accreditation system and I think that
accreditation system should work so that all those who are legitimate
entertainers don’t have anything to worry about,” Romulo said.
He added that the Japanese government is primarily concerned about the rising
incidence of human trafficking—not the removal of Filipino entertainers in
Japan.
“What the Japanese are concerned about is human trafficking, not removing our
legitimate entertainers so I think these are things that we are trying to
resolve and I think we should be guided by that,” he said.
Japanese immigration officials earlier said that they are set to implement a
new scheme concerning Filipino entertainers, 80,000 of whom enter Japan every
year.
To cripple human-trafficking syndicates, who use the entertainment industry
route to bring in women from developing countries for prostitution, immigration
officials had said that they would no longer honor the Philippines’
accreditation procedures and instead impose new, more stringent requirements.
The move seemed to have been triggered by the US Trafficking in Persons Report
which placed Japan on Tier 2 Watch List as it lacked effective laws against
human trafficking.
Edgardo Pamintuan, Presidential Adviser for External Affairs said in a press
statement that he supports the DFA initiatives to push for a five-year
transition period before the full implementation of the new rules in visa
issuance for Japan-bound Filipino entertainers.
He also said that there should be reforms within the proposed transition period
to improve the reputation of Filipino women working in Japan’s entertainment
industry.
“Serious efforts should be done to correct such reputation, including ridding
it of undesirable elements that contributed largely to the negative perception
against Filipinas working in Japan, who are condescendingly called japayukis,”
he said.
He also said that part of the reforms should be to implement a “systematic
monitoring system” that records all transactions between the talents and their
agents and managers “to prevent entertainers from being shortchanged.”
He said agents and promoters have been getting large amounts of the fees of
Filipino entertainers in Japan, estimated at about P11.7 billion annually,
tax-free.
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