RIYADH, 23 May — “Stop immediately the collection of the $25 OWWA mandatory membership fee!”
“Reorganize the OWWA Board!”
“Charge those responsible for the loss of OWWA funds!”
These, and more, are expected to be raised when Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas and her delegation will meet with Filipino community leaders in the Kingdom in the coming days.
Sto. Tomas will be accompanied by Administrator Rosalinda D. Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and other officials from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The delegation will arrive on May 24 and they will be meeting with the host government’s Labor Ministry officials on various topics aimed at strengthening the labor ties between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, Philippine Embassy officials said.
Sto. Tomas’ delegation is returning the visit of Saudi officials led by the labor minister to Manila last year, the embassy said.
Sto. Tomas’ and company are also scheduled for a luncheon meeting with Filipino community leaders on May 26 at the Tent Room of the Marriott Hotel in Riyadh, according to an invitation letter issued by the office of Labor Attaché Arturo L. Sodusta.
On May 27, the delegation will proceed to Jeddah, where a dinner meeting had been scheduled with the area’s community leaders at 8:30 p.m. at Al-Hamra Sofitel Hotel. In the same meeting, projects initiated by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh are to be presented.
This include the Barya Mo, Buhay Ko, a fund-raising campaign of the Filipino community to help distressed compatriots in the Kingdom. The same project so impressed the senators who came to the Kingdom for the Absentee Voting Bill hearing that they pledged more than 11 million pesos to the fund.
Also to be presented is the Megabyte or Movement for the Empowerment of Filipino Migrant Workers Through the General Advancement and Diffusion of Information Technology. According to its project concept and mechanics, Megabyte aims to teach basic and advanced computer skills to Filipino migrant workers to enhance their employability and productivity, and to enable them to advance professionally.
Sto. Tomas’ visit had been much-awaited by community members in Riyadh, who had been aching to bring out their grievances especially with the OWWA and POEA.
The OWWA had been very much in the news lately amid a dispute between Sto. Tomas and OWWA Administrator Wilhelm Soriano.
The row came to a head early this month when Soriano announced his move to have the OWWA transferred from the control of the Labor Department to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
This was ostensibly to make the agency more responsive, considering that Philippine missions abroad are headed by the ambassadors or consuls. Labor officials and some NGOs, however, claimed that Soriano maybe trying undercut Sto. Tomas for trying to institute reforms in the OWWA.
Breaking her silence last week, Sto. Tomas revealed that she had initiated an investigation into the loss of about 1.2 billion in OWWA funds due to failed investments which were done without approval by the OWWA Board of Trustees.
She also cited a Commission on Audit (COA) report showing that a bigger portion of the OWWA budget is being spent for administrative services and less on the welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
OFW leaders were hoping that Soriano would come with Sto. Tomas’ group so that he can clarify so many issues about his agency. He is not part of the delegation.
POEA chief Baldoz is expected to help shed light on the $25 OWWA fee as she was a co-signatory to the order imposing the fee.
A “Call to Action” initiated by the e-Lagda advocacy group has urged OFW groups worldwide to take up the the pressing issues with the labor delegation.
