• Undersecretary Arellano of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE),
• Distinguished representatives from government agencies,
• Partners from the Embassy of Australia and Indonesia
• Mr Duval of the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines,
• Workers’ and employers’ representatives
• Civil society partners,
• Colleagues and friends, good day!

A warm welcome to this Philippine National Tripartite Preparatory Workshop for the 13th ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour, or AFML.

Every year, the AFML brings together stakeholders including governments, workers’, employers’ civil society organizations, the ASEAN Secretariat and international organizations, including from our UN family - IOM and UN Women, to discuss various issues related to labour migration.

This year the 13th AFML will be hosted by the ASEAN chair, the Government of Viet Nam in Hanoi on 10 and 12 November. Due to the current restrictions on international travel, all regional participants will be invited to join online.

The theme selected for this year’s AFML is “Supporting Migrant Workers during the Pandemic for a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community”.

This theme allows all key stakeholders – including representatives of governments, employers and workers organisations, and civil society organizations – to discuss the most critical and pressing issues that ASEAN migrant workers face.

Recent ILO estimates on the impact of the COVID-19 revealed a massive drop in labour income. Vulnerable groups, particularly migrant workers and their families are disproportionately hit given the impact of the pandemic on their health, employment, remittance, protection and future.

As a parallel objective, this year’s AFML will assess ongoing responses to support migrant workers at country and regional level, and reflect on lessons learned to improve the region’s preparedness for future emergencies and crises.

Since early this year, the COVID-19 crisis has had an unprecedented impact on economies, businesses and workers globally and in the ASEAN region. In the ASEAN region, ten million international migrants are among the most affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

The outbreak and subsequent lockdown measures have caused mass unemployment among migrant workers and driven hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to return home to Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

The vast majority of migrant workers however remain in the ASEAN countries of destination Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and many of them are facing food insecurity, retrenchment, non-payment of wages, other contract violations and increasing xenophobia. Few have opportunities for physical distancing, and many have limited access to COVID-19 testing and health care.

For those returning home, the journey involves difficulties in finding transport, crossing borders, and a high risk of infection in crowded quarantine facilities upon return. Travel restrictions have also meant that many migrant workers have been prevented from taking up employment abroad for which they have contracts, and for which many may have paid high recruitment fees and costs.

Many ASEAN member States have introduced measures to support migrant workers during the pandemic. Some examples include, among others free COVID-19 testing and health care for migrant workers; automatic visa extensions; registration procedures; logistical help in organizing returns; and assistance and temporary income support to returnees.

Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has however exposed the challenges faced by migrant workers in the region as they often lack access to health services and are left out of income support and social protection measures.

Now, several months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the ASEAN region, it is timely to pause to think what have been some good practices in supporting ASEAN migrant workers during this crisis. It is also vital to consider what practices have not been successful.

In the case of the Philippines, the UN Country Team, specifically the three participating UN Organizations – ILO, IOM and UNWOMEN, will jointly implement a programme that will support the government in facilitating fair and ethical recruitment. The programme will also ensure dignified return of Overseas Filipino Workers and build back better through decent work and sustainable development in the context of this pandemic. This Joint Programme will draw lessons and share good practices as it pilots local interventions and innovations in partnership with stakeholders at the community level.

This Joint UN Programme supports the Philippine Development Plan and the Ambisyon Natin 2040 and anchored on the Philippines-UN Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development between 2019 and 2023. The nexus between migration and development face challenges, including this global health emergency, which heighten the risks and vulnerabilities of Filipinos, and Southeast Asians in general, as labour migration or human mobility continues.

Further, it is timely to consider, what aspects of labour migration management need to be improved to make the ASEAN region and its migrant workers more resilient in the case of a future crisis.

This will require, among others, improving migrant workers’ social protection, safety and health, and labour protection, and overall strengthening cross-border cooperation in crisis preparedness planning and response. We are delighted that the Government of Viet Nam has chosen to dedicate the 13th AFML for discussing these important topics.

On behalf of the ILO, I would like to acknowledge the long-term commitment of Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to support the ILO TRIANGLE in ASEAN programme, and thereby to the annual AFML process.

I would also like to express our special thanks to the Australian government for allowing TRIANGLE in ASEAN to reprogramme a significant amount of its resources to respond to the immediate needs of migrant workers arising from the COVID-19 crisis throughout the ASEAN region.

Before I end, I would like to remind ourselves of the two objectives of today’s meeting. First, to review progress towards the recommendations from the previous AFMLs; and second, to prepare, agree and endorse a set of recommendations on supporting migrant workers during the pandemic for a cohesive and responsive ASEAN community.

These national recommendations will guide contributions of the Philippines delegation at the regional AFML in November.

I would also like to thank the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for organizing the meeting today, and all meeting participants for your participation.

I wish the meeting great success! Thank you.