JPEPA - Good for Philippine Economy But Disadvantageous To Filipino Nurses?
Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA has been ratified by the Senate last week in spite of the many opposition and disgusto about it since it started in the lower house plenary. JPEPA boasts to help the ailing economic relationship with Japan heal its wounds.
Senators approving the treaty believed JPEPA needs to be ratified, otherwise, Japanese foreign direct investment and earnings from Philippine exports to Japan may go to other Southeast Asian countries where Japan has economic partnership agreements.
But why is there a lot of opposition to this so-called economic treaty?
Concerned groups and oppositors have expressed their concerns on the treaty even before this came to the Senate for debate. The contention is that it is unconstitutional since it violates the protectionist provisions in the Constitution. And the group that will be affected are Filipino nurses who wants to work in Japan.
The detractors believed that this same treaty will also become a “template” for other developed countries to exploit our OFWs particularly Pinoy nurses in exchange for economic and trade exchanges. And you know that we reported earlier that even the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) supports the call to junk the JPEPA during the legislative deliberation.
The impact is debilitating for most of our ordinary countrymen seeking healthcare-related jobs in Japan. For nurses, they will first work and get paid as trainees while preparing for the nursing licensure exam in the Japanese language. If they fail to pass the exam within a three-year period, they will have to return to the Philippines.
The treaty compromises Filipino nurses’ labor standards, job security, migrant and labor rights, benefits and wages, and other protection for healthcare workers and caregivers. Many believe that the trade agreement’s provision on labor services would compromise Filipino health workers and put them in a very vulnerable position.
16 Philippine senators voted in favor of the Treaty which is described to be as “onerous trade agreement.” Only four senators voted against the JPEPA.
Philippine Government Still Optimistic About More Job Opportunities for Pinoy Nurses
The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) revealed that Pinoy nurses will still be very much in demand in the near future in developed countries.
This comes after the government helped the hiring of Filipino nurses in the Middles East which remains consistently high while Australia needs 200T Filipino nurses. Other countries that are opening up for Filipino nurses are Japan, Spain and Canada while deployment of Filipino nurses for the United Kingdom has dwindled.
The United States government, on the other hand, is fast tracking the nursing education for training their local nurses which might affect the number of deployment of Filipino nurses wanting to migrate there. This is expected to be counteracted by two house bills pending in US Congress that will open the hiring of foreign nurses to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in the US.
US Labor Department estimates that they will need 500,000 nurses between 2016 until 2025 as there will be millions of elderly people within this period and training their local nurses will not be enough to attend to the needs of the growing aging population.
PIA has acknowledged news report that there are 400T Filipino nurses left without employment as deployment for nurses abroad has slowed.
This is why it is extremely important for the Philippines to uplift the quality of the nurses today especially in the communication skills as well as hands-on experience as these will be the edge of the Filipino nurses when they work overseas.