MANILA, 7 June — A Labor Department (DOLE) official has said there was no truth to reports that the $25 membership fee being collected from Filipino migrant workers' by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will be suspended.
Undersecretary Manuel Imson said what they are looking at is to make renewal of the membership fee voluntary rather than mandatory.
"It is not true that we are suspending the $25 membership fee. We cannot suspend that. It's mandatory and that's the life of OWWA. What we are thinking of reviewing is the policy of making the mandatory renewal to voluntary," Imson said in a press conference.
He said Labor Secretary Pat Sto.Tomas has been getting complaints here and abroad about the $25 renewal fee, which employers are supposed to shoulder but which are charged to the workers.
"In her recent trips, migrant workers are complaining about that mandatory collection, but they are not getting anything in return," he said.
Imson also said the board is thinking of beefing up benefits to attract OFWs to voluntarily renew their membership. There were earlier reports that the fee would be scrapped altogether and OWWA Administrator Wilhelm Soriano said the decision was not in his hands but noted that the fees are OWWA's lifeblood.
However, he noted that the fees are covered by Letter of Instruction 537 and needs a law to be rescinded. "If they would do that (mandatory to voluntary), then they must go to Congress and have this law repealed," he said.
OWWA's unaudited financial reports for 2001 which Soriano provided the Congress Committee on Labor investigating OWWA funds show that contributions from workers grew 25 percent last year from P550 million to P690 million.
More than 70 percent of that goes to the operation, benefits, and other administrative expenses of OWWA and only about 20 percent goes to the actual benefits for workers.
A report on benefits of OWWA employees by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that each employee receives nearly P100,000 monetary benefits annually.
In a report presented by the DBM to the members of the OWWA board of trustees, employees of OWWA are found to be receiving too much benefits compared to other government employees. Based on the study, each worker gets P20,000 anniversary bonus, P25,000 gift check, P8,000 medical insurance, P7,200 staple food allowance, uniform allowance amounting to P4,000, rice subsidy and 13th month pay. Apart from the financial benefits, OWWA workers are also getting other incentives such as longevity fee which is equivalent to one percent of the annual salary; productivity incentive worth P2,500; Program on Awards and Incentive Service Excellence (Praise).
Moreover, while most OFWs do not even receive a 13th month pay, OWWA employees are getting a 14th month and provident fund, more than what most other employees in the Philippines receive.
The study also led to the suspension of some of the benefits being enjoyed by the employees since these benefits were found to be illegal. Among the financial benefits suspended by the board of trustees include the P25,000 gift check, P7,200 staple food allowance, provident fund and the 14th month pay since the issuance of this monetary packages has no legal basis.
"The trust of the Board of Trustees is to cut undue expenses in order to protect the capital fund," Imson said.
He added at the moment OWWA is operating with a P680 million budget when it is supposed to operate on a P520 million budget. Meanwhile, Soriano questioned the motives of Imson in announcing the expenses and benefits being given to the employees of the agency. "Why did he announce that at the presscon? What is his objective to make it appear that OWWA is wallowing in exorbitant pay, what's the fuss all about? That is an internal matter and it's over," Soriano said.
Chito Sagana, head of OWWa's public information office stressed that what the employees have been receiving are part of the standardization policy of the government.
But Sto. Tomas said an ordinary employee of OWWA received 150 percent benefits compared to other government agencies. "OWWA administrator gets more than the DOLE's secretary and undersecretary which is equivalent to the salary of the president," Sto. Tomas said.
