JEDDAH, 12 May — An obscure group called OFWs Alliances (Overseas) was behind the controversial petition seeking the transfer of the Philippine Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to another department, overseas Filipino organizations worldwide were told yesterday.

The petition, supposedly submitted to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on May 1, was posted on the Internet by leaders of the advocacy group e-Lagda chapter in Riyadh.

The petition carried the name of Honorio”Noor” Salas Perez, a former contact worker, who was listed as “chairman and spokesman” of the group.

It was apparently one of the petitions OWWA Administrator Wilhelm Soriano referred to in his speech during the 20th Anniversary Celebration of OWWA in Manila on May 4, when he announced a “clamor” by migrant Filipino groups for the transfer of OWWA to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The petition, after showering praises on President Arroyo, savaged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its recruitment arm Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as ineffectual agencies saddled with poor records in battling cases of illegal recruitment, abuses and maltreatment of OFWs, as well as non-implementation of overseas working contracts.

It also pointed out that the DOLE’s representatives in foreign lands lack the “political will” in “effectively protecting the welfare and interests” of troubled OFWs.

A silver lining in the dark horizon, the petition said, is the OWWA which has earned itself “a well-deserved reputation of a caring government institution” to a majority of OFWs.

Organized in the 80s to take care of the welfare of Filipino migrant workers, OWWA is itself the subject of alitany of complaints by OFWs, the latest of which is its imposition of a $25 membership fee on each migrant worker every time they sign a contract.

The gist of the petition is that in order for the OWWA to carry out its mission to the fullest, it should be transferred to the DFA “where it is rightfully belong (sic).”

Signatories

It was not clear whether the petition contained signatures of OFWs, other than that of Perez. Perez himself is an ex-OFW, having been terminated by his company in Yanbu, western Saudi Arabia, in 1999 amid a controversy involving him and another ex-OFW who was then based in Jeddah.

At the height of that controversy — in which Perez complained of being cheated in the Kasapi’s Outstanding OFW Awards program — the organizer accused Perez of forwarding papers containing spurious signatures in support of his claimed accomplishments.

According to sources within the labor recruitment and welfare circle in Manila, Soriano — who was rewarded the OWWA post for not running against House Speaker Jose de Venecia in Pangasinan — is using the petition to ward off attempts by Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas to introduce reforms in the OWWA.

Santo Tomas, in particular, wants to stop the mismanagement of OWWA funds, including the use of 664 million pesos in the Smokey Mountain project of former President Fidel Ramos, Arab News learned.

While Soriano had said the investment is a good one, a Commission on Audit (COA) report last year lamented that the money had not been redeemed when it matured on Oct. 12, 1999.

“Due to the inability to record the invested funds at maturity date, it diminished the investing liquidity of the program, and the opportunity loss had these funds been invested in other high-yielding money placements,” said a portion of the report signed by Director Amorsonia B. Escarda of COA.

Soriano has denied that his move to transfer his agency to the DFA has something to do with his resistance to Sto. Tomas’ reforms. In his controversial speech of May 4, however, he told of unnamed agencies trying to “clip the wings” of OWWA.

Call to action

Hours after Noor Perez’s petition was posted on the Internet, e-Lagda leaders in the Kingdom said they have received angry letters demanding who Perez is.

“Galit ako sa manggagamit!!!! (I’m angry at those who manipulate other people)” one of the writers, Ronnie Abeto, said.

Rashid Fabricante of e-Lagda Riyadh said they were reserving their comments on Perez’s petition pending further verification. But, he said, there were more pressing matters than transferring OWWA to the DFA.

A “Call to Action” prepared by the Riyadh group urged overseas Filipino groups worldwide to take up the following among themselves for the purpose of arriving at a consensus:

1. Immediately stop the collection of the $25 OWWA mandatory membership fee.

2. Full public financial and management audit of OWWA, not only for year 2001 but also for previous years.

3. Stop any plans to transfer OWWA under DFA.

4. Expose any person or group who is using the names of OFWs without their permission to support the OWWA transfer.

5. Evaluate the history and functions of the different agencies that are involved in the welfare and protection of OFWs and determine if they are really responsive to the needs of the Filipino workers.

6. Immediate reorganization of the OWWA Board.

Bert Barriga, another e-Lagda stalwart who had long been active in pushing for the absentee voting bill, said the chapter will meet tomorrow at their office to discuss the OWWA scandal and other urgent OFW issues.

“The time to act together is now! We are calling on all concerned kababayans, e-groups, NGOs and legislators to act together for the welfare of OFWs around the world,” added Dr. Alfredo Ganapin, one of the chapter’s leaders who said OFW groups should not settle for mere assurances from Manila officials.

“If it has nothing to hide, then OWWA should submit itself to a full and unhampered investigation,” he said.