Recruiters warn Japan's migration law forcing entertainers to go illegal
Trisha Marcelo
Updated

PROMOTERS and recruiters of entertainers are blaming Japanese immigration laws for forcing the hands of an increasing number of Filipino women to grab illegal ways to enter or stay in that country. Constricted labor processing to Japan has displaced Filipino entertainers who, according to their promoters and recruiters, are engaging in illegal activities to ensure they can still work in that country.

"Arranged or fixed marriages are rampant now. While still in Japan, they (overseas performing artists), they pay huge sums of money to their prospective husband to marry them in the Philippines so that they can go back there to work," said Cristy Gatchialian, vice president of the Confederated Association of Licensed Entertainment Agencies (CALEA).

Gatchialian and other leaders of CALEA, which includes the Philippine Entertainment Exporters and Promoters Association (PEEPA), the Philippine Association of Recruitment Agencies Deploying Artists (PARADA), and the Reliable Entertainment Promoters Association Inc. (REPA), said more OPAs have entered in arranged marriages with the Japanese or falsified their documents in order to go back to Japan.

Gatchialian, who is also president of PEEPA, added an entertainer who wants to ensure her return to Japan pays as much as 300,000 yen. Gatchialian called the problem "a form of human trafficking," ironically the very problem the tighter immigration laws wish to stop. She and the other CALEA leaders spoke a year after the Japanese government tightened immigration policy against foreign entertainers, specifically OPAs.

The move that formally began on March 15, 2005 was the Japanese government's response to a United States State Department report that tagged Tokyo two years ago as one of the countries where human trafficking was rampant.

Washington's State Department placed Japan in the Tier 2 Watch List of the 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report.

The US government believes most OPAs in Japan were exploited, ending in the flesh trade.

According to Gatchialian, this experience that Washington wants to avoid occurs among Filipino women entertainers, a year after the Japanese toed the US line.

"The problem worsened," said CALEA and PARADA president Lorenzo Langomez. Now, if we follow provisions of the new law, a Filipino woman "married" to a Japanese "can legally work in Japan," according to Gatchialian.

"She can sit down and go out with customers without fear of being penalized when caught," Gatchialian said, adding that the club owner cannot be punished as well.

Swaps
WHILE not giving figures, Gatchialian said there are now cases when Filipino entertainers connive with their managers or handlers to come up with fake birth documents.

Under Japan's stringent policy, Filipino entertainers can only enter and work in the country if they comply with any of the two requirements—a two-year experience as entertainer outside Japan or a two-year course on a related field.

Gatchialian said as a result of this policy, some OPAs and their managers falsify certificates of performances by paying some club owners in the country.

"With the existing immigration policy, it appears that Japan prefers first timer. Old timers (OPAs) have lesser chance of getting approval. So their tendency is to use the birth certificate of other people and assume their name to make it appear that they are first timers," she added.

Gatchialian said there were also entertainers who tried to apply for tourist visa, instead of entertainer visa, to re-enter Japan. She said normally these OPAs applied for tourist visa in Japan's consular office in Davao City because it is easier to get one there compared in Manila.

According to Gatchialian, Japan's policy stripped the Philippine government, particularly the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), of its control over the OPAs.

The POEA is not required anymore to issue any document certifying that the Filipino is really an entertainer, Gatchialian added.

Because of this, she said anyone could apply directly to Japan whether he or she is a legitimate entertainer or not.

"This kind of human trafficking is harder to control unlike before if something happened to an entertainer, you can pinpoint the agency or people responsible," she stressed.

Langomez said aside from the large segment of the 70,000 to 80,000 Filipino entertainers who were dislocated by Japan's policy, hundred thousand more individuals are affected.

According to him, every OPA has six to eight dependents.

Watchlist
THE Philippines is also under the State Department watch list for countries that are not yet complying with US legal standards and may be downgraded, but have promised to make or are in the process of making significant efforts to meet the requirements.

This category is one notch away from the lowest Tier 3 of countries not making significant efforts to combat human trafficking. These countries could face US trade sanctions.

With Japan's "significant effort" to address human trafficking through harsher enforcement of immigration policy, the State Department upgraded Japan to Tier 2 in its 2005 report on trafficking in persons. Manila, however, remained on the watch list.

But Japan's strict enforcement of immigration policy displaced a huge number of Filipino performing artists, according to the POEA.

The POEA released data showing that there were only around 38,000 Filipino entertainers who were deployed to Japan last year.

This was a 47 percent dropped from the 71,000 entertainers the POEA reported to have worked in Japan in 2004.

OPAs, as classified by the POEA, include choreographers and dancers; circus performers; composers, musicians and singers; and performing artists.

Many OPAs consider Japan a greener pasture because they can earn between US$600 to US$5,000 a month.

Nonetheless, POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said she is optimistic that employment overseas this year and the succeeding years will remain bright, despite the decline of OPA deployments in Japan.

The global market continues to offer employment opportunities for Filipino workers, especially skilled workers and professionals, Baldoz was quoted as saying.

"With all of these developments in the global labor market, migration of Filipino workers is expected to continue in the coming years," she said.

Losses
HOWEVER, that is not a good sign for Gatchialian, who also owns the 30-year old Gatchialian Promotion Talents Pool, Inc. (GPTPI).

She said her agency used to send 60-70 entertainers monthly to Japan but now "it's zero."

She said she's just giving her agency until April or May this year to operate. After that, I might already close shop, Gatchialian said.

Some 50 regular employees and 1,500 artists/talents could lose their jobs once GPTPI folds down, she added.

Asked why she would not try other markets, Gatchialian replied: "We don't have any market as good as Japan and Japanese (club owners) are easy to deal with."

POEA officials said some displaced Filipino entertainers are now trying their luck as factory workers in Korea, Singapore, Brunei, or Malaysia; domestic helpers in Hong Kong, Singapore or Cyprus; or waiters in the Middle East.

Unlike the GPTPI, Langomez's Jerr Services is more fortunate that despite "zero deployment in the last four months" to Japan, it is deploying skilled workers, nurses and domestic helpers to the Middle East, Europe, and other parts of Asia.

Langomez said 60 percent of CALEA members have either closed shop or scaled down operation as a result of Japan's new measure. CALEA has around 430-member promotion agencies.

Gatchialian and Langomez are urging the Philippine government to ask the Japanese to revert to its old policy.end

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