MANILA, 11 April 2006 — A plan by the Philippine government to transform a bankrupt state-run bank into a remittance center for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) is under fire from the supposed beneficiaries.

OFWs welcomed the plan, as approved in a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang last week, for the bank to offer lower remittance rates to OFWs around the world.

But they said the idea of taking 1 billion pesos (abour $20 million) as seed money for the bank from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) without consulting the stakeholders — the OFWs — would be tantamount to looting the welfare fund.

The OWWA fund is built from contributions imposed on OFWs. Contract workers, whether new or old, have to become members of the agency and to pay a $25 fee each whenever they leave the Philippines for work abroad.

“This move by the government again insulted the many unsung heroes by diverting our money without due consultation,” lamented Ronnie Abeto of the Pusong Mamon Task Force (PMTF) based in Yanbu, in western Saudi Arabia.

He noted that there were many legal questions on OWWA fund expenditures pending before the court which remain unanswered. “And here they are again, spending our money to resurrect the bankrupt bank.”

Riyadh-based Francis Oca said: “The issue here is not actually the creation of an OFW bank, but the use of OWWA funds.”

OFWs have complained that Manila officials have been using the welfare fund as a cash cow.

Rashid Fabricante, also of PMTF and based in Riyadh, noted the opinion of other OFWs that their advocacy of putting up a bank that would serve their interest won't prosper without the government taking the lead.

“But we should not compromise our principles as stakeholders — it will be our money and we should be the ones to operate it,” he said.

Francisco Aguilar Jr. of the Federation of Migrant Workers (FMW) said he has told OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque that the OFWs are not averse to having such a bank but they should not be left out in the decision-making process.

Another Cocofund Mess?

Robert Ceralvo, a Filipino community Leader in New Jersey, United States, expressed concern that the plan is just another scheme to milk overseas Filipinos of their hard-earned dollars.

"I share the same fear — if OFWs will not be consulted, included, and vested in this OFW Bank project, chances are, it will benefit more the power brokers than any of us, OFWs,” he said.

Ceralvo recalled the Cocofund mess during the Marcos regime in which coconut farmers were made to contribute to a fund supposedly for their welfare. It was later discovered that cronies of former President Ferdinand Marcos, not the coconut farmers, benefited from this fund.

Scheduling Problems

Rolando Macasaet, president of the Philippine Postal Savings Bank, which is to be converted into an OFW bank, said he was powerless to conduct consultations but he was talking with OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque to initiate a dialogue with OFWs.

Roque, in an interview with Arab News, said that no consultations had taken place because of scheduling problems.

But he said the OWWA would definitely meet with OFW groups as there were other issues to be discussed, including the possibility of transferring future ownership of the bank to Filipino overseas workers. He assured the OWWA fund stakeholders that their concerns are foremost government’s plan.

In fact, he said, the plan was in recognition of the fact that OFWs have long clamored for a bank that specifically caters to their needs.

Newest Service

In announcing the plan last week, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the “newest service” was an offering to “our new heroes and greatest workers in the world,” who sent a record high of $11 billion in remittances to the country last year.

“So that we can help our OFWs in saving and sending their money back home, we will make the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB) an OFW bank,” she said during a discussion with her officials in Malacañang.

As envisioned, the new bank would receive remittances sent by OFWs through postal offices abroad. It will send the money to their loved ones through automated teller machines (ATMs) that it will put up in the 2,000 post offices throughout the country.

Arroyo then approved a proposal to modernize the country’s postal system through a P5.7-billion build-lease-transfer project for the Philippine Postal Corp.

The president and the National Economic and Development Authority endorsed the postal modernization proposal, which would be undertaken at no cost or risk to Philpost, during the NEDA board meeting presided by the president as its chairman.

The postal modernization project was proposed for Philpost as early as 2002 by the Japanese software developer Renaissance of Age (ROA) to improve the services of Philpost and increase its revenues which have been dropping for years.