23 July 2010--Six months after the savage earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince in Haiti, the 400-plus Filipinos living and working there are safe and generally fine, the Philippine Embassy in Cuba reported.
A magnitude seven earthquake hit the country last January 12, which killed 300,000 Haitians.
In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy team headed by Philippine Ambassador MacArthur F. Corsino informed of the outcome of their six-day visit to Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo as a follow-up investigative mission to look into the security, welfare, accommodations and job situation of Filipinos in Haiti.It may be recalled that during the height of the Haiti earthquake crisis, when the stench of cadavers abounded and the peace and order situation was tense, an RP Rescue-Recovery-Repatriation Task Force headed by the Ambassador succeeded in repatriating 63 Filipinos from Port-au-Prince, through the Dominican Republic.
Accompanied by Philippine Honorary Consul Fitzgerald Brandt, Filipino Community President Francisco Bagadiong and Vice Consul Jason Anasarias, Ambassador Corsino inspected several dwelling-compounds of overseas Filipino workers.
He also held dialogues with OFWs aside from convening a meeting of the top Filipino leaders and Philippine UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) officers.
Despite the fact that there are 1.2 million homeless Haitians still trying to survive in tent dwellings, in poor sanitation, and suffering from lack of water, electricity and proper toilet facilities, and with evidence abounding of unrepaired and unreconstructed devastation in various parts of Port-au-Prince, the security situation has improved and the 250-strong Filipino community there is relatively living well.
Whereas they had slept in makeshift tents before, Filipinos have returned to sleeping in their houses, albeit nearer to doors for fear of any possible aftershocks. They also have more food supplies, as various supermarkets have reopened.
Some of those repatriated to Manila have even returned and are back at their previous jobs or in related employment.
Practically all Filipinos who had stayed behind are once again gainfully employed, mostly in supermarkets, warehouses, and textile-garments firms and a number work in well-paying jobs with UN and other international organizations.
Except for those Filipinos who recently arrived to work in pre-contracted technical jobs, employment is actually scarce in Port-au-Prince.
The over one million Haitians in "tent cities" are virtually unemployed or underemployed, adult and child beggars abound, and there is practically no "walk-in" employment for anyone.
The Embassy therefore warns the the Philippine public against promises of high-paying jobs in Haiti by apparently illegal recruiters.
At least two Filipinos who were so recruited, enticed by supposedly US$3,000 a month jobs, have ended up jobless and penniless in Port-au-Prince and are desperately depending on largesse from other Filipinos to survive. END