MALAYA: Recruiters urge OWWA to apply P225 cut in OFW membership fee now

By GERARD ANTHONY NAVAL and
ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
Dec. 15, 2007

AGENCIES recruiting workers for overseas placement called on the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to immediately apply the P225 reduction in the membership fees for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and not wait for January to implement it.

The $25 OWWA membership fee is collected at the POEA together with the processing fee of P200 and the PhilHealth insurance of P900 before OFWs can leave the country.

Last Dec. 13, the OWWA board decided to reduce the fee from P1,275 to P1,050 using the P42:$1 exchange rate achieved by the strong peso.

In a joint statement, the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters (FAME) and the Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI) called for the immediate application of the reduced fee.

“This is anomalous since there are, at the moment, over 100,000 OFWs who are already here for the holidays and all of them will be required to secure OECs (overseas employment certificates) from the POEA for their departure back to their jobsites,” said former PASEI president Lito Soriano in a separate interview.

“This translates to P25 million pesos that will again go to the coffers of the government, short-changing our OFWs P225 pesos for each contract processed by the POEA,” Soriano lamented.

FAME and PASEI, whose members represent 95 percent of the land-based OFW sector, said the amount may be an “insignificant” P225 but the decision to lower the fee is a symbolic acknowledgement by government of the contributions of migrant workers.

The two groups said there are now 8 million OFWs all over the world who are propping the national economy with dollar remittances expected to hit $14 billion this year.

In Hong Kong, Dolores Balladares, chair of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil), said in a statement that they welcome Senate President Manuel Villar’s plan to investigate the “excessive and onerous fees” levied against them by POEA and other government agencies.

She said Unifil also wants the Senate to investigate the “endless reports of mismanagement and misappropriation” of OWWA funds.

Balladares accused POEA of “practically providing recruitment agencies the license to fleece new and returning OFWs with all sorts of fees for purported ‘training’ purposes.” She said TESDA also collects questionable fees from OFWs.

“OFWs worldwide are complaining over excessive fees for overseas passport processing, authentication, and so-called Overseas Employment Certificates. We have long campaigned that this mulcting be stopped and we view Senate President Villar’s initiative as a victory for this campaign,” said Balladares.

“We are outraged that the rapacious Arroyo government is not satisfied with the billion-dollar remittances that save the economy and fund their excesses. Public officials don’t see us as real heroes but milking cows, especially if the excessive fees and exactions are fully exposed in the Senate investigation,” said Balladares.

Balladares said that UNIFIL and other member-organizations of Migrante International are ready to testify before the Senate.