MANILA, 28 August 2006 — Active membership by Filipino overseas workers in the Philippines’ Social Security System (SSS) should be strongly encouraged but not made compulsory, community leaders abroad say.
Rashid Fabricante, an OFW based in Riyadh, said getting social security coverage is a good idea especially for those working in countries where many are not amply covered by health insurance and pension.
“When the GOSI (the social security system for foreigners in Saudi Arabia) was stopped in 1988, we have monitored many OFWs caught in road travel accidents, sudden deaths or illnesses who are unprepared to handle the family crises especially financial or medical support,” said Fabricante, a leader of the Pusong Mamon Task Force, a group of volunteers helping distressed OFWs in the Kingdom.
“Aside from various loan facility (in the SSS), the pension plan will protect retiring OFWs from economic burdens,” he added.
Membership, however, should be voluntary. After all, he said, “it is the OFW himself who knows better what is best for him.”
In the United Kingdom, Edna Aquino who heads the Center for Migrants in London said if SSS membership is made compulsory for OFWs, it could go the way of the OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration or welfare fund) and other funds under the stewardship of the Philippine government.
She said the Philippine government should be more responsible in the administration of these funds. “Right now, the government treats the funds of these agencies made by the contributions of its members as public funds.”
“It’s the same old issues of: lack of accountability, lack of transparency in decision-making/governance by government authorities, on the one hand and lack of meaningful representation and stake-holding by the public, particularly the contributors of the funds in the decision-making structures,” Aquino said.
Riyadh-based OFW Rodel Yap said, “Is this not just another case of infusing fresh funds into a shaky SSS as there were in the past a number of bad investment decisions that their fund managers have done?”
Yap said though that he has not stoppoed paying his contributions to the SSS since he left the Bank of the Philippine Islands to work abroad 12 years ago. “Membership in the SSS is not a bad idea as long as the mechanisms are made clear,” he said.
Lawyer Henry Roxas, legal counsel of the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), said the SSS should “double its marketing efforts among OFWs but don’t force the OFWs to join if they don’t want to.”
“I am not comfortable with a mandatory policy even if they say it is for the benefit of OFWs. I remember decades ago when forced remittance via EO 857 was implemented (50-70 percent remittance to family or else one is blacklisted from overseas employment. The rationale was supposed to be good — to make sure that the OFW remits money to his/her family. I think ILO (International Labor Organization) rendered an opinion that mandatory or forced remittance infringes on the OFW’s right to dispose of his/her wages. Same situation here. Even if they say it is beneficial for the OFW, it cannot be imposed on them,” Roxas said.
Roxas said “locally, self-employed persons are encouraged to be a member of SSS but it is not mandatory. OFWs are in the same situation as self-employed persons. They should voluntarily join the SSS if they want to and not because they are forced to do so.”
The United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK) has launched a signature campaign opposing making SSS membership compulsory.
Unifil-HK Secretary-General Eman Villanueva said “the Arroyo regime is again planning to introduce another money-making scheme targeting OFWs.”
Villanueva earlier said this was confirmed by SSS Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary Horacio Templo who was in Hong Kong trying to sell this “bright idea.”
According to Villanueva, the SSS’ plan included trying to clinch a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the implementation of this proposal by next year.
SSS president and general manager Corazon dela Paz said, “This is just a recommendation. It is not final.” She also emphasized that the program, if it would be enforced, would not be not mandatory but voluntary.”
Other OFWs in Saudi Arabia said what the SSS needs is to mount a continuing campaign among OFWs about the benefits of being a member of the agency.
