They're still cracking migrants down!

STATEMENT ON MASSIVE CRACKDOWN OF MIGRANT WORKERS
IN SOUTH KOREA
July 07, 2008

We member organizations of the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea (KASAMMAKO) or the Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers Associations in Korea, with clenched fists calls for a stop to the massive crackdown on migrant workers in South Korea especially Filipino migrant workers, respect and protect their human rights.

The Korean government under President Lee Myung Bak has intensified the crackdown on undocumented migrant workers for the last few months and remains unabated up to this day. This systematic and calculated crackdown under a conservative government is a contradiction between its neo-liberal capitalist priorities and the need for cheap labour force. This is also a contradiction to the well publicized notion that South Korean society is becoming a humane multi-cultural society. This intensive crackdown has forcibly deported thousands of migrant workers in spite of their health and family conditions just to accomplish the immigration quota of arrest and deportation of undocumented migrant workers. There are migrant pregnant women even bleeding badly and men who are so ill yet arrested, incarcerated and consequently deported. Recently, immigration police are tucked with tasers or electric stand guns in arresting migrant workers, a threatening method which can be used in case of resistance to arrest. We vehemently condemn this treacherous crackdown.

The economic slowdown due to various capitalist market schemes and the looming economic recession in the U.S. which affects other economies has been used as justification for flushing out undocumented migrant workers in many countries particularly in South Korea. This should never be an alibi for the inability of the government to design mechanisms that will integrate migrant workers into the regular work force. The government has been stuck in recycled and obsolete means of labour outsourcing that exploits and maims the lives of migrant workers. Migrant workers have contributed to the industrialization and wealth of South Korea and should not be blamed for the economic downturn.

Migrant workers’ basic labour rights are protected in the South Korean constitution, including the right to freedom of association. The South Korea’s 1948 Constitution mentions in its preamble that the state is ‘determined to consolidate national unity with justice, humanitarianism and brotherly love and to destroy all social vices and injustice’. More so in Article 6 under Treaties, Foreigners, it stipulates that: (1) Treaties duly concluded and promulgated under the Constitution and the generally recognized rule of international law have the same effect as the domestic laws of the Republic of Korea. (2) The status of foreigners is guaranteed as prescribed by international law and treaties.

It is unthinkable that for several decades South Korean society has benefited from the labours of migrant workers that have supplied cheap labour for the small and medium scale industries, but the human rights of migrant workers are violated. While only a handful of Korean citizens would take on the difficult, dirty and dangerous jobs, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers spend their lives in these jobs, but often ill-treated and maligned by their employers and worse still, not paying the salaries and suffer many other sub-human conditions in their work places. Many have languished in detention centers waiting for their unpaid salaries to be paid by their delinquent employers. Worst of all many migrant workers have to endure the anxiety of the continuing crackdown some have even died or were hurt escaping arrest and deportation.

Finally, labour exporting or sending countries like the Philippines ought to develop its economy based on agriculture and move towards national industrialization which when realized will put a halt to forced migration which at present Filipinos working abroad has reached up to nine million. We reiterate our vision for the Filipinos and all migrant workers that we look forward to the day when families are no longer separated, that they don’t have to migrate in order to find decent jobs, that each person and family are able to provide adequately for their basic needs and each person will have meaningful life—a life lived in justice and peace. Once again in one voice, we call: STOP CRACKDOWN! LEGALIZE UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS!

CALLS FOR ACTION:
 For the Philippine government:a) Make immediate diplomatic and legal intervention on the plight of not less than 30,000 migrant workers in South Korea who face imminent deportation due to intensified crackdown.
b) The Philippine Labor Office (POLO) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in South Korea should inform and make written recommendations to the Philippine Senate and Office of the President how to avert intensive crackdown, and how Filipino undocumented /irregular migrant workers can become legal, regular, or integrated into the regular work force, that is, outside of the framework of deportation and the Employment Permit System (EPS).

 For South Korean government:
a) Stop crackdown and protect human rights and migrant workers;
b) Legalize and integrate all migrant workers regardless of visa status into the regular work force
c) Ratify the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

 For other governments:
a) All labour sending and labour receiving countries should devise and work out means and strategies to protect human rights of migrant workers;
b) Evolve just and sustainable economic system that will eliminate forced migration and enhance international solidarity and peace among nations.

 For all migrant workers and the general public:a)
All migrant workers should unite against the commodification of human labour in the neo-liberal market globalization;
b) Condemn and put a stop to crackdown as a strategy to flush out migrant workers from labour receiving countries.
c) Know that crackdown is being used not just in South Korea but also in other parts of the world and therefore unite against it.
d) All people should help protect human rights of migrant workers because in terms of peoples’ economic survival and more importantly in having a just economic order in the world, nobody is “illegal” or “undocumented”.

The Typhoon named Frank

Hundreds of people died in the Philippines because of the wrath of a super typhoon named Frank or Fengshen as its international name. I have seen how sturdy trees knocked down, billboards fell from buildings, flood waters drowning rooftops and destroyed thousands of hectares of rice lands and a ship en route from Manila to Cebu capsized because it was swallowed up by mountain like waves. When you are caught in treacherous storms like this, there's nothing you can think of but destruction, hunger, death.

With typhoon Frank, I would guess that many people who knew me in the Philippines and other parts of the world have associated my name with the typhoon, and if ever they have forgotten my name, they were once again reminded of me. Well, human persons are part of nature and human nature can at times be likened to typhoons. The typhoon's fury was unleashed unexpectedly or perhaps its strength underestimated. Living in the panay island where our local community faces the smaller island of guimaras does make you accustomed to storms, or learned to like to storm. The strong winds test the strength of your house, the big waves wound unearth the lost coins in the sand and the mussels and other sea creatures good for food are washed to the shore.

For us who live in the shores of Panay Island would welcome the coming of southwest moonsoon in the months of June to August. The months when the southwest moonsoon would bring income to the fisherfolks. It's the time when milkfish fry are drawn to the shore by the currents and fisherfolks has something to catch and sell. In the last few decades much have change in milkfish fry catching. Less and less fry are caught because of pollution and environmental degradation. Typhoons are seen as destruction rather than bringing rain to rainfed rice paddies and income for fisherfolks.


Similarly when I saw on tv the destruction brought by storms or hurricanes and tornados in continental US that made houses like cardboard boxes. The sights of totally destroyed houses in the US causes me to think that regardless where you live, whether you are in an upper middle class society or in the developing country like Burma or the Philippines houses are nothing in the eye of the storm. So what kind of houses do we need that can stand the storm? Or what kind of food production technology do we need that can stand the storm? And what kind of society should we have that can anticipate if not is prepared to face the fiercest of storms and earthquakes?

Come to think about these!

Candlelight vigils in Seoul

The hundreds or thousands of unquenchable light from burning candles seem like an ocean of yellow dots arranged in organic artisty can be seen from the birds eye view on the main thoroughfares of downtown Seoul. Burn, burn burn! oh tiny candlelights that can shed light to the darkened souls of the South Korean political leaders who choose to take the side of the profiteers and in the name of economic globalization.

The first candlelight vigil started on May 2 by students airing their concerns on the safety of U.S. beef and it became a continuing protest action even to this day, June the 24th. The main motive of the candlelight vigils was to call for the renegotiation of the beef import deal, but various groups joined the nightly vigils and rallies which started to criticize other policies of President Lee Myung-bak such as privatization of public firms, the inland canal project and many others.

From a small group of students the nightly vigils swelled to hundreds of thousands especially on the night of June 10 that commemorated the historic democracy movement massive protest actions. The big swell in number of protesters on June 10 estimated at 500,000 included church people from the member churches of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). In a night long vigil pastors and lay leaders from the Protestant churches gave speeches on various social issues that affect the life of society such as the privatization of the national health insurance and other social services. Church leaders who came to the gathering remembered the dark days of military dictatorship. They challenged church people to continue to raise its prophetic witness in the present time now that there is a resurgence of conservative right.

People from all walks of life from students to workers and former activists who fought for democracy 21 years ago joined the rallies, demanding the government to renegotiate the beef deal with the United States made under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Because of this the clarion call for renegotiation the government sent emissaries to the US in an attempt to renegotiate the trade deal on beef importation. The South Korean government will urge the US trade negotiator that only beef from cows less than 30 months old can be imported to the country. Health experts believe that mad cow disease which affected the cattle in the US few years ago may be transmitted to humans through beef from cows older than 30 months.The US negotiator hopefully will reconsider the deal.

Moreover, the candlelight vigils also affected the credibility of the cabinet members of President Lee Myung-bak, where all of the ministers resigned from their post and the president has appointment their replacements. The president's popularity rating has plummeted since his first 100 days in office due credibility issues surrounding ministerial appointees.

The candlelight vigil will go on as long as the government will only serve the its own political and economic interests and the interests of the powers that it serves. In the context of globalization, more and more people will be disadvantaged due to the widening economic gap among people with varying economic capacities and the global economic recession.

Burn, burn burn! Oh candlelights of Seoul.

Beef and mad cow disease

Today June 10 is the anniversary of the pro-democracy demonstration in Seoul, South Korea. It was a huge mobilization of South Koreans that challenged the military dictatorship of Chun Do-Hwan. For the last tow weeks hundreds of thousands of people have been staging protests actions against the importation of U.S. beef to Korea. This has been the bone of contention of political wranglings in the parliament and on the streets. For the last few years the U.S. and South Korea governments have negotiated under the Free Trade Agreement to increase importation of beef.

Living good enough! Tribute to Bae Gwang-Jin

It seems like fleeting moments. The last time I saw him physically present on his desk was Thursday afternoon, the 27th of March. Few days earlier he was busy phoning people in Myanmar checking whether the flight to Mandalay was booked and the car to be used to travel to Tahan was arranged. And on that Thursday afternoon before leaving the office for my English class, I checked his departure date and he said he and his two companion will leave on Monday the 31st of March and they will be Myanmar or Burma for a week. I bid him a safe travel and goodbye. That was the last time I saw him animated with friendly smile and gleaming eyes.

Last Friday, the 11th of April was his funeral service. My dear friend and colleague Bae Gwang Jin has joined his Creator. He died in Burma few days ago. Just like all his colleagues, friends and most especially his only daugther and family members were shocked at his demise at 41 years old. Four years ago, he came to our welcome party in Kang Nam Church in the Southwest part of Seoul and two years after when I joined the staff in the PROK General Assembly, he is one of those I closely work with. As a member of staff, he invited me for two consecutive years to give a talk on doing Christian mission in the East Asian context. The world Christian Academy of the PROK is the annual program he coordinates.

As ecumenical workers in Korea for four years, me and Gloria are indeed grateful for the friendship of Bae Gwang-Jin. When we moved in to our new house in Mapo-gu, he took time to facilitate some of the basic amenities in the house, such as the internet and telephone connections. He accompanied me to a second hand furniture shop to buy refrigerator and sofa. He is such a generous person, that somehow we feel orphaned by his departure to eternal life.

I can't help myself recalling the last few months when we interacted in the office, we are seated across each other with the glass divider separating our desks. Mary Collins sits on the desk to his right and diagonal to me. One lighter moments I recalled Gwang-jin was responding to Mary's queries, he said, "I've live long enough at 41." I'm not very keen on premonition, but with the events that followed I'd guess that what he said was a kind of anticipation. Well, we normally say to ourselves, you can die anytime, anywhere. We have to accept the fact that all of us will die. However the time between now and the time of death is very crucial to all people, especially to adult persons who have established matured relationships.

I believe in what Gwang-jin said that he lived long enough at 41. More so I'm convinced that he lived good enough as a person of faith. I might be in the stage of denial that he is no longer here with us, but there is that kind of confidence in my heart and in my mind that he is alive somewhere. Thanks a lot dear friend for living good enough!

2008 A New Year Full of Promise

The new year 2008 for the skeptics can be just like any year in one's life time. I dare to disagree because I know that every day there are new things that can happen to any person. As a person of faith, I know that this new year has a lot to offer and I have to make the best out of this short life-span.

I'm quite inspired by what the prophet Isaiah said during the recovery years in Israel after captivity in Babylon:


"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up;
do you not perceive it?
I am doing a new way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland..."
(Isaiah 43: 18-19)

The prophet is not suggesting a voluntary historical amnesia. He admonished his people to forget about the past which they can no longer undo. Instead they should focus on the future that is full of promise and hope. The dawning of another year is an opportunity for us to learn from the past and give ourselves a chance to purge ourselves of unbecoming behavior. Also we have to think of better ways to be of service to those in need.

It is important to make a mental review of the past year and weigh the positive aspects of life against the negative ones. This will help us see who we are as human beings in relationships. Oftentimes the negative things we have done predominates in our minds and forgetting the good and the best things that we have done and have been doing. Don't get paranoid with the things you consider unworthy. Nobody is perfect.

"A new way in the desert," is a metaphor of the great possibilities not just for this new year but in life as a whole. I hadn't imagine myself and my wife working abroad, living in a strange land and at the same time guiding and helping migrant workers in their problems and needs. A new way out of the difficult economic situation for migrant workers emerged. But leaving one's home and country is not at all easy. Working in foreign land is not easy. There is always contempt and discrimination of those who does not belong there. Working abroad is a new way in the desert. The desert however is everywhere. The desert like social situation in one's own country pushes people to move out and find a better way to live as human beings. The desert will remain a desert unless human and divine intervention is made. Human society has to create a new way in the desert of deprivation and oppression. Transforming deserts to oasis --an arable land that produces food and provides sustainance to its inhabitants.

I have great hopes for the 2008 not because it is a new year, but rather in God's grace I can be of service to others and use my life, skills and abilities to the utmost so that our world will be better with me and with you around.

Welcome the New Year as you would be welcomed in a friendly home.

They Shall Know Me

”They Shall Know Me”
Jeremiah 31: 27-34
By Frank J. Hernando
19 October 2007
PROK Dong Gwang Church
Kang Nam-gu, Seoul, Korea

This occasion is indeed rare and I’m grateful to the Rev. Jang Bin for generously giving the University of the East Chorale the chance to sing and for giving me this opportunity to preach in this worship service. Most of my preaching time for the last three years and ten months work in South Korea was spent with the Filipino Migrant Workers Community in Shin Weol Dong. Due to lack of Korean language facility, I did not have many opportunities to preach in PROK churches, but I have a very intensive teaching experience in English Church School and learning facilitation in the Peace School of the PROK Peace Community Movement Centre. I’m more of a teacher than a preacher. This is the very reason why I have chosen the text from prophet Jeremiah for tonight’s meditation. The catchy phrase from the text is “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest…(v. 34).

This text has inspired me since I started my pastoral ministry in 1991. Instead of intensive theologizing in this meditation, I would rather use an illustration. Listen to this: There is a young boy who have just entered his age of puberty and learned about God in his experience of storms in life.

“When the typhoon comes tomorrow morning,
Don’t forget to take care of your younger siblings.”
“Yes, mother,” the boy replied.
At dawn the following day the waves roar from the nearby shore.
The wind wasn’t whistling, it’s howling. Dark clouds covered the horizon.
He wasn’t terrified, but seems helpless as he stood at one corner of the house that has been rocking at the tumultuous force of the storm. “Where are your younger siblings?” his mother yelled contesting the sound of the angry wind and the pouring rain.
“They have left for the community hall, they’re safe,” he answered his mother in a timorous voice.
The boy looked up to see the color of the wind,
He gazed on the ceiling,
He saw the thatch palm leaves roofing dancing in the wind.
Some parched palm leaves that were once part of the roof were blown away,
Patches of skylight appear from where it once a dark brown roof.
Oh God, why should there be typhoons!
Why are they so destructive?
He was standing in that corner not just for a minute or two, but for a while.
His dry throat has been soaked by the rain that drips from his hair.
His brown skin covered with bits and pieces of the roof.
His mind soared while standing in that corner;
As if that corner was a safe haven for a fragile and faltering body.
Whoooz…! whoooz…! The wind was blowing hard on the house.
Lightning cuts jigsaw lines into the dull gray sky. Thunder released its fury, the ground trembled.
Still standing there in the corner of the house,
He was waiting for the final collapse of their house.
He wished the house could stand the storm.
But his mind entertained the idea of a total collapse.
Why should I wish for this house to collapse? He asked himself.
No, I should not, he reasoned, my parents are poor.
But, we need a new house, a much stronger one.
A house that is safe even in the midst of storm,
We need a home where our young lives can grow freely.
It was late afternoon when the storm finally left the island.
There was calm. The dark clouds have dissipated.
The voices of worried men and women calling out their children can now be heard.
The boy has tamed the storm.
His body is once again animated.
He walked down and made ready to extend his hands for the repair of their house that must be done immediately, for all his brothers and sisters to have a dry bed for the night.

Jeremiah is a prophet of doom and hope. He prophesied about the eventual collapse of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the time when they will be under the control of powerful Babylon. He repeatedly told the people and the kings for 40 years that unless they truly repent and change their attitudes toward God, they would not survive as sovereign kingdoms. What he prophesied about Israel and Judah finally came and it made a great blow on their life and future. It was on this crisis situation that Jeremiah uttered vivid messages of hope. In the mouth of Jeremiah God said, “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Following the old covenant through the letter did not make Israel and Judah a covenant people, and rather than living out God’s salvation and peace they preoccupied themselves offering sacrifices to the gods of war and destruction. Their captivity in Babylon was a result of their lack of faith and failure to show kindness, justice, love and mercy. The two kingdoms were desperate during their captivity in the land of Babylon. Israelites were conscripted into the labor force of Babylon. Hence God offered them a second chance through the new covenant which will no longer be written on papyrus but in their hearts and minds. This is a new relationship between God and his people whereby leaders administer justice; each and every person internalizes and lives out compassion and love, and acts out solidarity.

The boy in our story grew up a few more years and he realized that there is so much in him that he may be able to share with other boys and girls of his generation.

It was the beginning of the long vacation from school:
“I wanted to teach children in the Vacation Church School,” he unwaveringly told his parents, brothers and sisters.
Encouragement was not found wanting for the eager boy.
In the volunteer teachers training, he studied the Vacation Church School (VCS) manual carefully.
Every word in the manual stuck in his brain.
The training was very short for a neophyte volunteer teacher to master every bit of detail of the lessons.
Yet, the boy was determined to actualize his potential.
Before the sun rose on sixth day of the teachers training, the departure day for all the Vacation Church School teams, he was all set for the four- week long teaching engagement in the hinterland villages.
The boy lodged his back pack on his shoulders ready for the journey.
Like a first time missionary he’s ready for any eventually on the road.

The jeepney ride was over an hour and reached the jumped off station.
The seven-hour walk has begun.
The sweltering heat of the sun was severe.
Perspiration dripped unceasingly from his forehead to his body,
Climbing the rugged mountainous terrain, complaining neither for sweat nor for aching legs, he tagged along with his teammates.
Stopping on some cool spring for a drink to relieve his dry throat; short stops on shady areas to reinvigorate his lungs and preventing total exhaustion.
It was almost the seventh hour of the journey when one of his teammates shouted, “we’re almost there.”

On the small village of Protestant Christians the boy’s team finally arrived.
The night welcomed them together with a group of children and some women.
Steaming boiled bananas, hot coffee and roasted peanuts were offered on metal plates pushed by some generous hands on the cool and shiny bamboo slats floor. The food served was like heaven.
The boy taught children in this hinterland rural village with confidence. His voice was melodious and the group of fifteen kindergarten kids could hardly follow the rise and fall of the musical notes, but he patiently sang with them, and told them to follow the song through hand and body movements.

The fourth day came in a very unusual way.
At dawn it was not the sound of migrating birds he heard.
The crickets were silenced. The crowing of rosters was drowned by the weeping of two or three women.
That very dawn a child died of German measles. That was the third death during the month.
The boy asked God why on earth in this place surrounded by beauty and grandeur of the mountain ranges; where mountain peaks reaching the clouds, and heaven is on earth; the cool winding rivers seem to lead to eternity;
but some children are unable to see the sun at noontime.
He believed in his heart that this is not a God forsaken village,
This people are God fearing. They pray to God for good harvest, for health, for prosperity and for peace. But certainly, there are a lot of things missing here!

Think of cable cars traversing the Swiss Alps, or the helicopter riding medical doctors that visits remote mountain villages. Think of self-sustained mountain villages where doctors, midwives, pastors and teachers serve the people.
The boy verbalized his thoughts to his friends, and one of them said,
“Unless our political leaders repent from their sins of corruption, selfishness, love of money and prestige, greed and violence, our people will never have a better chance for life and peace.”
The boy absorbed what he heard.

We know that it is not God’s intention that human beings whether in their persons or in society lead a destructive life or fortress social injustice. In the history of Israel and Judah, God saw their kingdoms collapsed. God was not a party to their idolatry or the worship of human power and wealth where human lives were sacrificed to satisfy their greed and ambition. Much more, inter-tribal solidarity which was the best expression of God’s providence was neglected and diminished. God witnessed how Israel and Judah were plucked up from their homeland and their kingdoms overthrown by foreign powers and their land was laid desolate. On the other hand God, as Jeremiah pointed out will witness how they would rebuild their nation, plant their land and produce a bountiful harvest to satisfy the needs of all people and not just a small segment of society. Their life as a nation will be one that truly resembles God’s kingdom, where people will no longer be taught how to do what is just and loving for they know it from heart.

Endowed with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ, Christian Churches all over the world have realized that God’s deep concern for the poor and the marginalized cannot be taken for granted. We are challenged to make known the love of God in Jesus Christ in ways that will not only alleviate the economic impoverishment of people in poor countries, but to help transform structures that prevent God’s love and justice to take root in society. This local church, Dong Gwang Church of the PROK has been supporting the life of Light house Church in Coronadal, South Cotabato, the Philippines extending spiritual and material assistance so that this congregation will become a channel of God’s love, solidarity and peace. I share your best hopes for this congregation in Mindanao and for the whole Filipino nation to become what God intends them to be.

I’m also aware that the Rev. Jang Bin is the chairperson of the Board of Management of the PROK centre for prostituted women called “My Sister’s Place” or Durebang located near a US military base north of Seoul. Lately the PROK National Church Women’s Association and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines have agreed to construct and support a women’s counseling centre in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines. This project is an expression of your deep concern and solidarity with Filipino women that are victims and survivors of prostitution and other kinds of abuses. As members of this local church, you have been at the forefront of Christian mission in many frontiers, always praying and acting for the development of the marginalized people.

Finally I would like to thank you all for hosting the University of the East Chorale and for the chance to preach on tonight’s service. Indeed, we all share Jeremiah’s vision of the time when God’s people will know him from the least of them to the greatest and God will forgive our iniquities and live as God’s forgiven people. May the God of peace sustain you in every good work that you do. Amen.