ZERO REMITTANCE DAY TODAY! ZERO REMITTANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION! JUSTICE FOR THE 17 FILIPINO MECHANICS IN MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN!

poster credit: Anakbayan Edmonton

Statement

Migrante Canada

International Migrants Day, December 18, 2025

ZERO REMITTANCE DAY TODAY! ZERO REMITTANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION! JUSTICE FOR THE 17 FILIPINO MECHANICS IN MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN!

Today, as we commemorate International Migrants Day, we call on all our chapters and member organizations across Canada and our fellow overseas Filipinos to support Migrante International’s call for a ZERO REMITTANCE DAY. Let us show our anger against systemic government corruption in the Philippines through this global, collective protest.

Just two days ago, Migrante Canada with members from Migrante Manitoba and other allied organizations from the Migrants Resource Centre Canada met with 17 Filipino Temporary Foreign Workers in Winnipeg. These mechanics were unjustly terminated by their employer, 4Tracks Ltd., only 2 weeks into their employment. This took place after the employer violated the workers’ health and safety and labour rights -- the workers were not given a proper onboarding employment orientation training, they were not provided the proper tools and equipment needed for their jobs as stipulated in their employment contracts and job description as mechanics, and they were not provided proper accommodations, food, winter jackets, gloves, and boots as required for their job and as stated in their contracts, among others.

These workers came to Canada less than a month ago from the Philippines through a placement agency, Venture Management, headquartered in the Philippines.

The continued suffering of Filipinos in our homeland due to poverty, landlessness, lack of livable wages and decent working and living conditions, and systemic government corruption, among others, force Filipinos to leave the country, at least 7000 every day to seek employment abroad. This forced migration, this brain drain, is orchestrated by the Philippine government through the Department of Migrant Workers, the very same government and government agency that continue to benefit from the remittances of overseas Filipinos and workers while neglecting and even abandoning our kababayan when they face abuse and exploitation in the host country.

The 17 Filipino mechanics are now being assisted by Migrante Manitoba with the support from the community, local churches, and other allied organizations to help ensure their basic and immediate needs such as food and housing are met and at the same time, to assisting them in asserting their rights, the filing of labour claims, and getting government assistance, not only from the Canadian government but also from the Philippine government through the consular offices and Embassy.

On International Migrants Day, we continue to assert our economic and political power by sending ZERO REMITTANCE to the corrupt government!

We also register our long-standing demand for clemency for Mary Jane Veloso who continues to suffer behind bars at the Philippine Correctional Institution for Women.

We demand that the Philippine government respond to the immediate needs and demands of our overseas kababayan:

(1) Provide genuine protection and services to OFWs.

(2) End the mandatory premium hikes and state exactions.

(3) Investigate and prosecute the OWWA, DFA, DMW, and related agencies, including the Office of the President and OVP, on charges of plunder and corruption.

(4) Free Mary Jane Veloso Now!

(5) End the labour export program!

(6) Create genuine jobs, services, and development so migration becomes a choice, not a necessity.

Today, Migrante Canada calls for ZERO REMITTANCE FOR ONE DAY, ACCOUNTABILITY EVERY DAY! ###