Philippine Lawmakers Move to Block Transfer of Fund for Overseas Workers

MANILA, 10 March 2005 — Six lawmakers have filed a measure seeking to cancel the transfer of 530 million pesos from the OWWA-Medicare fund to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Representatives Liza Maza, Crispin Beltran, Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casi?o, Rafael Mariano and Joel Virador, all belonging to militant party-list groups, warned that the proposed transfer would constitute a “grave anomaly” since it was done without consultation with OWWA-Medicare stakeholders, the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

A Feb. 2, 2004 board resolution of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, or OWWA, sought to transfer the amount to PhilHealth for reasons that had never been made clear to OFWs.

The transfer is currently the subject of an inquiry by the House Special Committee on Overseas Worker Affairs chaired by Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay.

PhilHealth President Francisco Duque, who was present to answer lawmakers’ questions, said not a single centavo of OWWA-Medicare funds has been transferred so far. He said sixty days have yet to pass after the publication of EO 392’s implementing rules and regulations.

Duque also emphasized that only about 1/8 of the entire fund would be transferred since P3.5 billion would be retained by OWWA to administer a supplemental health care benefit package.

He said P530 million is the amount that would cost for a one-year’s medical insurance coverage for the estimated 3.5 million OFWs and their dependents in the Philippines. Duque emphasized that if the entire fund were transferred to PhilHealth, OFWs who had been OWWA-Medicare members since its inception would become non-paying lifetime members.

He said the premium would remain at P900 a year with a benefit package similar to that obtainable under OWWA-Medicare.

OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque said, processing of claims would be faster since PhilHealth personnel were already used to processing and verifying medical claims.

Representative Lagman pointed out that although the PhilHealth group conducted consultations with OFWs abroad, they failed to do so in Saudi Arabia where the greatest concentration of OFWs are.

Some community leaders in Saudi Arabian had complained in the past that the OWWA and PhilHealth simply ignored them when they questioned the planned transfer.