MANILA: An alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ groups in the Middle East has called on Carmelita Dimzon, the new chief of the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, to publicly divulge the investments of the agency amid the US financial crisis that has affected other countries. “She is duty-bound to report to member-OFWs the status of OWWA investments, in the name of transparency and accountability,” Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said yesterday in a statement from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he has been based.
Migrante-ME said Filipino workers in the region and their families back home were “quite alarmed” by the financial crisis in the US that would negatively affect Philippine financial institutions and in turn, may possibly lead OWWA investments into losses.
“OWWA investments losses mean no more social and welfare services to OFWs and their families. Even at present several OWWA welfare programs and services have been phased out such as the family assistance loan and departure loan when the OWWA Omnibus Policies have been implemented on 2005,” Monterona added. The Migrante leader said that although OWWA has been mandated to ensure the viability and sustainability of the agency fund through sound and judicious investments, member-OFWs should know these investments and their current status.
Migrante-ME estimated the OWWA funds to be worth around P10 billion in 2008, due to the appreciation of the value of the peso and increased remittances. OWWA members have no idea how much of the funds are being invested and where, according to Monterona.
From every departing OFW, the OWWA collects a membership fee of $25, or about P1,165. The agency estimates that membership-fee collections range from P1 million to P3 million daily.
The last time OFWs had knowledge about the investments of OWWA funds was in the middle of 2006, when Dimzon’s predecessor, current Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, reported that OWWA funds totaled P7.74 billion, of which P6.58 billion were deposited in the LandBank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines under an investment management agreement.
Migrante said the transfer of the P6.8-billion to DBP and LandBank contributed to the delay in finding cash to repatriate 30,000 Filipino workers in Lebanon who were caught in the fighting between the Israeli troops and the Hezbollah in 2006.
According to Monterona, OWWA members are justified in worrying about the exposure of the OWWA funds in the financial markets and other investment setups as it suffered losses before. He said OWWA’s previous investment losses included the government’s buyout of the Frederick Hotel, the granting of loan to Landoil Resources and the Smokey Mountain Rehabilitation and Development project during the Ramos administration.
“Dimzon has the burden of proving herself different from previous OWWA administrators. And she can be different from the rest by being transparent with regards to OWWA funds and being accountable to member-OFWs and their families by re-implementing various social and welfare services, including insurance, social work assistance, legal assistance, cultural services, and not only to give emphasis on remittance services,” Monterona said.
