MANILA, 22 February 2004 — A group has asked a local court to stop the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) from forcibly collecting $25 as membership fee from migrant Filipino workers.
In a civil suit filed last week before the Pasay Regional Trial Court, the Philippine Migrant Rights Watch (PMRW) also said it wants the OWWA to suspend implementation of several sections of the agency’s new Omnibus Policies.
The complaint also asked that OWWA be directed to order employers to pay the workers’ $25 fee as mandated by law. Employees have been paying this fee because of alleged refusal on the part of employers to do so.
The PMRW told the court that the OWWA Board of Trustees, in imposing the $25 fee on OFWs and in revising its policies, acted contrary to the Philippine Constitution and to existing laws.
The board is chaired by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, with OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo as vice chair.
Its members are Labor Undersecretary Manuel Imson, Foreign Undersecretary Jose Brillantes, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) head Rosalinda Baldoz, Assistant Secretary Eduardo Opida of the Department of Budget and Management, and representatives from recruitment agencies and OFWs.
PMRW, along with recently returned OFWs Jesus Reyes and Rodolfo Macarol, also accused OWWA and its Board of Trustees of grave abuse of discretion and in excess of its jurisdiction when it promulgated the Omnibus Policies.
The highly controversial policies limit membership in OWWA only to currently employed OFWs and beneficiaries only to members. Previously, direct families of OFWs and returned OFWs could avail of OWWA benefits.
“OWWA was created by law to provide welfare services to all Filipino overseas contract workers and there is no law which limits OWWA services to its member contributors only,” the complaint read.
Sto. Tomas earlier justified this move by saying providing services to families of OFWs was a drain on the fund so that OWWA no longer had funds to serve its real members.
Catholic Bishop Ramon Arguelles earlier said the OWWA Omnibus Policies “were deliberately crafted to increase the OWWA fund by engaging more in investments while restricting expenses on beneficiaries and services.”
In a letter to President Gloria Mapacagal Arroyo calling for the suspension of the policies, Arguelles noted that businessmen like Regis Romero or RII Builders “have benefited from the fund . . . while many OFWs are deprived of just benefits and services.”
Arguelles represented the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Ecumenical Commission on Migrants and Itinerant Peoples (CBCP-ECMI) and linked up with PMRW President Carmelita Nuqui in writing the letter.
They called on Arroyo to issue an executive order rescinding the said policies.
Arguelles also delivered to the president a petition by 20 other groups — including the Saudi Arabia-based Pusong Mamon Task Force (PMTF), OFW Congress Riyadh, and Alyansa-Western Region — seeking to stop the OWWA from implementing its new policies in early December.
President Arroyo, who is seeking a fresh mandate in the May 10 election, has not acted on the petition so far.
Arguelles said a favorable response by the president on the OFW groups’ petition would indicate that her declaration of March 9, 2003 to Feb. 29, 2004 as the “Filipino Migrant Family Year” was not just for show.
