Pna Junk Jpepa Statement

NURSING SECTOR POSITION STATEMENT ON THE JPEPA The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), after an extensive deliberation on the merits of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), and considerably weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the agreement on the welfare of Filipino nurses who may later on avail of the arrangement pertinent to them, submits that: a. The PNA is primarily and totally committed to upholding the welfare and wellbeing of Filipino nurses in any setting, be it local or international. b. The PNA has always been at the forefront of any advocacy to promote the interests of its member-nurses, especially in consideration of providing decent and dignified employment opportunities for them and protecting their rights. c. While the PNA takes cognizance of the Philippine government’s laudable effort to sign a mega-treaty with Japan on September 9, 2006 in Helsinki, aimed at further improving bilateral ties between the two countries, the provisions of the JPEPA supposedly intended to increase trade in goods and services between Japan and the Philippines, are deemed contrary to a prevailing predisposition among Japanese investors not to consider the Philippines as an investment destination. d. There are grey areas as regards the provisions relevant to the movement of natural persons, which supposedly will allow freer trade in services between Japan and the Philippines, such as those:
concerning market access to Philippine health care professionals, in particular nurses and caregivers, in Japan. Will such access be actually made available to Filipino nurses? According to an official statement issued by the Japan Nurses Association (JNA), there is no shortage of nurses in Japan. Thus, JPEPA is not a solution to any so-called shortage but a solution to a trade imbalance. JNA stressed that the Japanese nurses still give the best care to Japanese patients. Indeed, it is noted that for 2007, out of 50,766 Japanese nursing graduates who took the licensure exams in Japan, 46,000 examinees passed, a 90.6% passing rate. Moreover, there are at least 550,000 Japanese nurses who settle for other kinds of work in Japan for a number of reasons.
concerning the toxic waste issue wherein tariff rates on all waste products from Japan are allowed entry to the Philippines at 0 rates. Is this the trade off for the supposed market access to Filipino health care professionals going to Japan?


concerning the national treatment accorded to our nurses; the safeguards to assure them of a decent work environment which are not found in the agreement. e. The disadvantages to Filipino nurses who wish to land jobs in Japan under the JPEPA far outweigh the advantages, as evidenced by the following:
The hassle of undergoing 6 months of language training before a Filipino nurse can start work as a trainee, under the supervision of a Japanese nurse;
Learning the language is not a guarantee that the Filipino nurse will get the equivalent of the work status of the Japanese nurse, unless the Filipino nurse passes the Japanese board exam.
In the event the Filipino nurse fails the board exams, his/her working visa may be extended only twice which means that the maximum stay in Japan is only 3 years.
On the other hand, the Filipino caregiver, after 6 months of language training, can already work in a health care facility or a nursing home for the aged. However, under JPEPA, a caregiver is required to have a bachelor’s degree and must be certified as a caregiver by the Philippine government (which is not the case for our caregivers).
The cost of living in Japan is one of the highest in the world. Filipino nurses will not only make adjustments in terms of the medium of communication and the culture but also the high cost of living which will eat up a large chunk of whatever difference in pay a nurse receives from working as a trainee in a Japanese hospital. f. Other countries were able to forge better bilateral arrangements, for example, South Africa and UK (where the latter agreed to educate 3 doctors and 3 nurses for every South African doctor and nurse who will be recruited to work in UK; UK will improve 10 nursing schools, to include refurbishing facilities and laboratories and providing top of the line equipment to South African schools and universities) and the Poland-Netherlands Agreement (which could be a model for an equitable arrangement where Poland sends 3,000 nurses to the Netherlands and these nurses go back to Poland after 3 years of service in the Netherlands and are given higher salaries through subsidy from the Dutch government.) g. There is actually no evident excitement among the nurses to queue to the Japanese Embassy because as PNA has always been pointing out – our nurses, if given the right compensation package, would not want to leave the country to care for foreign nationals but stay here to provide our own people with quality health care.

h. Given the above, the PNA strongly calls for a concerted effort to JUNK JPEPA!! We call on the Philippine Senate to study each provision of the JPEPA to assure the Filipino people that we are not shortchanged and our nurses will neither be abused nor exploited only because the Philippine government desires to push for a megatreaty that leaves no guarantee for the welfare of our medical professionals. Further, we appeal for the full implementation of R.A. 9173 (Philippine Nursing Act of 2002) and the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers as these relate to the provision of an acceptable compensation package for Filipino nurses.