asean

RAUL ACEDRE MANILA

Asean has become the next key market for Filipino
nurses after it affirmed an agreement to liberalise
nursing services.

The agreement is part of a wide-ranging accord, which
provides for freer trade and travel policies as well as
easier migration in the region.

Under the so-called mutual recognition agreement,
signed in December, nurses licensed by their
respective governments can work in any Asean country
without having to sit that country’s licensure exam.

However, they are required to register and convert their
qualification to a local license before they will be
allowed to work.

Ramon Kabigting, director of the Bureau of
International Trade Regulation of the Department of
Trade and Industry, said the agreement allows the
Philippines to be more aggressive in entering the
Asean market.

Asean groups the Philippines, Brunei, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Laos and Myanmar.

With a combined population of 479 million, it is bigger
than the United States or the European Union.

A major highlight of the agreement, signed during the
Asean leaders summit in Cebu, is improved access to
social services by migrant workers.

It sets out workers’ rights and binds member countries
to specific obligations on improving their living
conditions and protection from danger such as human
trafficking, illegal recruitment and exploitation.

By adopting stringent policies on worker protection,
member countries have the collective strength to
demand equal treatment for their workers from nations
outside the grouping.

“We have the moral suasion to ask other countries,
such as those in the Middle East, America and Europe,
to respect our policies as a group,” said Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary Esteban Conejos, a summit
spokesman.

Most Asean migrants working in the region are in the
manufacturing and services sectors.

The Philippines deployed more than 250,000 newly
hired and re-hired land-based workers in the region
2005, the latest year for which official data is available.

The workers were deployed to Brunei (8,666),
Cambodia (689), Indonesia (2,138), Laos (164),
Malaysia (6,058), Myanmar (151), Singapore (27,599),
Thailand (2,400) and Vietnam (1,102).

Summit officials said the agreement was a vital
confirmation of the leaders’ “shared responsibility to
ensure a secure and prosperous Asean community”.

Under the agreement, the Asean member countries
will promote “decent, humane, productive, dignified and
remunerative employment” for migrant workers.
It also calls for the development of reintegration
programs in their countries of origin.

“This ensures the returnees have realistic prospects of
being reintegrated into the domestic workforce,” a
Philippine official said.

We have the moral
suasion to ask
other countries,
such as those in the
Middle East,
America and
Europe, to respect
our policies as a
group

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President Arroyo and other Asean leaders take center stage at the end of their summit in
Cebu. Asean signed a wide-ranging accord sharply boosting regional cooperation.

Asean countries open borders to nurses

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