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PMRW Questions Legality of Collecting US$25 from OFWs
Dubbed "Bayad Ko To," the signature campaign aims to gather evidence from past and present OFWs that indeed they were the ones who paid for their OWWA membership fees and not their employers.
The OWWA, formerly known as the Welfare Fund for Overseas Workers, was created by Letter of Instructions No. 537, signed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos on November 1, 1977. Section 5-A of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Welfare Fund states that foreign employers hiring Filipinos shall contribute to the fund, while Section 5-B stipulates that, "in no way shall the fees be
charged or collected from the worker.
Reports indicate however that the US$25 fee is routinely passed to the OFWs. For instance, OFWs who have their overseas employment contracts processed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) are required to contribute US$25, or its equivalent, to the OWWA Fund before their applications are processed. Receipts issued to them indicate that the employer paid for the fee, when in fact such is not the case. The OFW after having paid for the membership fee does not get reimbursed for it.
PMRW President Carmelita Nuqui clarified that their group is not advocating for the abolition of the US$25 membership fee. "What we are questioning is the legality of collecting the fees from the employee instead of the employer. Section 5b of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Letter of Instruction (LOI) 537 states that the US$25 should not be collected from the employee.
"At the same time, we are questioning the provisions embodied in the omnibus policies which limit OWWA services to member-contributors only. OWWA was created by law to provide welfare services to all OFWs. There is no law which limits its services to so-called member-contributors only, Nuqui continued.
It will be recalled that last February 2004, the PMRW filed a case against the OWWA Board of Trustees, questioning among other things, the legality of the fees being collected from the employees themselves, and limiting of OWWA services only to member-contributors to the OWWA Fund.
To date, the intensified campaign has reached PMRW's networks in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Taiwan, and Europe. About 100,000 signatures are expected to be gathered by September 2005.
"Bayad Ko To" campaign was launched on May 3, 2005 during the PMRW forum entitled "The Next Level: The Migrant Worker Sector Agenda," which reported on the recommendations of the 2004 World Conference of OFWs entitled "Shaping the Future of Filipino Labor Migration, held in December. Representatives from different NGOs, government agencies, and media attended the said event.
On June 16, 2005, PMRW held a forum at the Mandarin Hotel and presented before members of the diplomatic corps the results of the Round Table Discussion with foreign missions held from July to September 2004, the highlights of the proceedings and recommendations of the 2004 World Conference of OFWs, as well as the findings of the research "Preparing to Work Abroad. The "Bayad Ko To" campaign was also presented to the representatives of the different embassies in the Philippines. |
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The Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW), a civil society network that promotes the recognition, protection, and fulfillment of the rights of Filipino migrants, recently launched a signature campaign to protest the illegal mandatory payment of US$25 fee by overseas
Filipino workers (OFW). |
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