Dapat bang Ibasura ang Omnibus Policies ng OWWA

With the revival of discussions on OWWA issues in the various Overseas Filipino discussion boards, I am reproducing here an article I wrote three years ago. Please read on.

Dapat bang Ibasura ang Omnibus Policies ng OWWA

Nitong mga nakaraang araw ay natunghayan natin sa mga pangunahing pahayagan ang mga pagbatikos ng mga OFW sa pahayag ng Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) na ang kompanyang pinapasukan ang siyang nagbabayad ng kontribusyon ng OFW sa OWWA. Ang pahayag ang siyang ginawang depensa ng pangasiwaan ng OWWA laban sa kasong isinampa ng Philippine Migrant Rights Watch (PMRW) para sa pagpapawalang bisa sa Omnibus Policies na ipinasa ng OWWA noong Septiembre 19, 2003 sa pamamagitan ng Board Resolution No. 038.

Ano nga ba ang nilalaman ng Omnibus Policies ng OWWA, at bakit ibig itong ibasura ng mga OFW?

Sa kabuuan, ang Omnibus Policies ay siyang tumatayang panuntunan sa pagpapalaganap ng programa, serbisyo, at benepisyo para sa mga OFW na kasapi ng OWWA.. Dito rin isinasaad kung paano pangangasiwaan at palalaguin ang pondong nalikom mula sa mga kontibusyon ng mga kasapi.

Ayon sa PMRW, sa kabuuan ay walang bisa ang Omnibus Policies dahil walang naganap na malawakang pagdinig tungkol dito, at hindi rin ito nailathala sa mga pahayagan bago ipinatupad.

Ayon sa Letter of Instruction (LOI) 537, ang batas na lumikha sa OWWA, ang US$ 25 kontribusyon ay dapat singilin sa employer ng OFW. Sa bagong Omnibus Policies, hindi na isinasaad kung kanino manggagaling ang naturang kontribusyon. Sa pananaw ng mga OFW na sumusubaybay sa isyung ito, ang ibig mangyari ng mga nangangasiwa ng OWWA ay gawing lehitimo ang nagiging kalakaran na sa OFW mismo sinisingil ang US$ 25 na kontribusyon, na ayon sa PMRW ay “isang uri ng illegal exaction of fees”.

Kung nais ng mga nangangasiwa ng OWWA na baguhin ang paraan ng pagbabayad ng kontribusyon, ito ay dapat idaan sa Kongreso at gawin sa pamamagitan ng pagsusog sa LOI 537, at thindi sa pamamagitan ng isang board resolution lamang.

Isinasaad din sa Omnibus Policies na magiging epektibo ang pagiging kasapi ng isang OFW mula sa araw ng pagbabayad nito ng kontribusyon hanggang sa pagtatapos ng kanyang kontrata (Sec. 3, Art. 4). Kailangang irenew ang pagiging kasapi, sa pamamagitang ng pagbabayad ng kaukulang kontribusyon, kapag nakakuha ng bagong kontrata o kaya’y binigyan ng contract renewal ng kasalukuyang employer (Sec. 4, Art. 4).

Sinisingil ng OWWA ang bawat OFW ng kontribusyong US$ 25 tuwing makalawang taon. Ito marahil ay sa kadahilanang kadalasan ang isang employment contract ay para sa dalawang taon lamang. Pagkaraan ng dalawang taon, maaring irenew ng employer ang naturang kontrata, at maari din namang humanap ng ibang kontrata ang OFW.

Hindi malinaw sa Omnibus Policies ang ibig sabihin ng “expiration of the employment contract”. Dahil maaring materminate ang serbisyo ng isang OFW kahit hindi pa natatapos ang dalawang taon, marami ang natatanong kung sa mga ganitong kaso, maituturing bang expired na rin ang membership ng OFW, na ang ibig sabihin ay hindi na siya entitled sa alin mang benepisyo na isinasaad sa Omnibus Policies? Ayon sa PMRW, dahil sa bagong Policies, “mahigit sa 1,700 claims na may kabuuang halaga ng Php 16M ang sinuspinde ng OWWA”. Ang mga nasabing claims ay para sa burial at death benefits, ayon pa rin sa PMRW.

Kung tutuusin, hindi naman kabigatan ang kontribusyong US$ 25 tuwing ikalawang taon, kung ihahambing sa mga benepispo na nakalaan para sa mga kasapi.

Ayon sa Omnibus Policies ang isang kasapi ay covered ng life insurance kung saan ang kanyang pamilya ay tatanggap ng Php 100,000 kung sakali’t siya’y mamatay habang nagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa, o Php 200,000 kung ang sanhi ng pagkamatay ay aksidente. Dagdag pa dito ang disability at burial benefits. Ang mga naturang benepisyo ay kukunin sa Insurance Benefit Program Fund. Ito ang pondo kung saan sa bawat kontribusyon na S$ 25, naglalaan ang OWWA ng Php 165.00.

Nagbibigay din ang OWWA ng loan guarantee sa mga kasaping ibig kumuha ng Pre-Deaprture Loan (PDL) o ng Family Assistance Loan (FAL), na hindi hihigit sa Php 40,000, sa alin mang government financial institution. Para sa programang ito, bumuo ang OWWA ng loan guarantee revolving fund na nagkakahalaga ng Php 100 M.

May mga education and training benefits ding ibinibigay ang OWWA, kung saan taon taon ay naglalaan ito ng Php 6M para sa skills for employment program, at Php 10M naman para sa seafarer’s upgrading program. Taon taon ding pumipili ng 100 scholars ang OWWA kung saan ang bawat scholar ay binibigyan ng Php 10,000 para sa matrikula at Php 20,000 naman para sa allowance bawat semester.

Sa ilalim ng Social and Family Welfare Services ay may repatriation and reintegration programs naman ang OWWA. Hindi isinasaad sa Omnibus Policies kung magkano at saan manggagaling ang pondo para sa mga programang ito. Ang repatriation program ay tugon sa sinasaad ng RA 8042, o ng Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, kung saan isinasaad na ang OFW ay bibigyan ng nararapat na tulong upang mapabilis ang pagbalik nito sa Pilipinas. Ngunit ang programang ito ang isa sa laging binabatikos ng mga OFWs dahil na rin sa kabagalan ng pagtugon ng OWWA sa oras ng pangangailangan.

Ngunit bakit sa mistulang napakagandang mga benepisyo na inihahain ng OWWA para sa mga kasapi ay marami pa rin ang tumululigsa at tumututol sa patuloy na pagpapatupad nito ng Omnibus Policies?

Ang isa sa mga isinusulong ng mga OFW ay ang pagkakaroon nila ng mas maraming representasyon sa Board of Trustees. Sa kasalukuyan, pito (7) sa labingdalawang (12) director ng Board ay galing sa ahensiya ng pamahalaan; isa sa management sector; isa sa labor sector, isa sa sea-based OFWs; isa sa land-based OFWs; at isa sa women sector. Hindi malinaw sa Omnibus Policies kung bakit kinakailangan ang represntative mula sa management sector. Hindi rin isinaad ang pagkakaiba ng labor sector representative sa sea and land based OFW representatives. Sa pananaw ng mga OFWs, kung ang OWWA ay talagang para sa kanila, nararapat lang na maging mas marami ang kanilang representasyon sa naturang lupon.

Malaki rin ang puna ng mga OFWs sa kawalan ng malawakang pagdinig sa mga programang binalangkas ng OWWA bago ipatupad ang mga ito. Kapunapuna, halimbawa, na ang mga kasalukuyang benepisyo na nakasaad sa Omnibus Policies ay tumutugon lamang sa ilang pangangailangan ng OFW habang siya ay nasa ibayong dapat at may pinagkakakitaan pa. Ngunit walang naisaad na benepisyo para sa panahon na ang OFW ay nakabalik na sa Pilipinas, retirado, at wala ng pinagkakakitaan. Ilan sa pangangailangang nais ng mga OFW na tugunan ng OWWA ay ang libreng hospitalization kapag ang isang OFW ay retirado na, pension plan, at savings program. May mga nagsasabing mas nakabuti sana kung ang inilabas na pera sa Smokey Mountain project ay inilaan na lang para sa pagpapatayo at pagpapatakbo ng isang hospital para sa mga OFW.

Sa gitna ng mga puna at pagbatikos sa paraan ng pamamahala ng OWWA board, dapat nga kayang ibasura na nito ang Omnibus Policies?

An Appeal for Cortez and Other OFWs in Death Row

Her Excellency
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Office of the President
Malacanang, Manila
Philippines

Dear President Arroyo,

In relation to the execution of Reynaldo Cortez, may we ask your good office to act on the following?

1. Please approve the payment of the SR 100,000 blood money, which was rejected by the relatives of the Pakistani victim, to the wife and six children left behind by Cortez; Let us give the family of Cortez more than just sympathy; Let us take care of his children’s future.

2. Please create a fact finding body that will look into the reasons why the DFA in general and the Post in particular, were not able to save Cortez and after execution not able to bring home his remains. The fact finding body should verify if the following options were tried when the family of the victim rejected the SR 100,000 offered blood money:

a. Did the negotiators tried to offer a higher amount?
b. Did the negotiators tried to seek the help of the Pakistani Ambassador in Riyadh and Manila?
c. Did the concerned government agency (cies) do everything possible to save Cortez?
d. Was the Post in Riyadh aware that Cortez was to be executed on the day and hour he was executed?

3. Kindly provide us information on the status of the Office of the Legal Assistant for Migrants Workers Affairs, and the Legal Assistance Fund which were created per provisions of sections 24 to 26 of R.A. 8042; Is it existing? How many cases was it able to assist to date? What is the status of the Fund?

4. Please conduct a study for the setting up of an OFW Blood Money Fund, which could be sourced from the government’s savings on debt servicing; from portion of annual interest income on investments of OWWA; from portion of the President’s Intelligence Fund?

I am sure that you are aware that there are plenty more among OFWs who are facing possible death sentences. And for as long as there are Filipinos leaving to work in a foreign land, we will continue to encounter these kinds of problems. The government should therefore work to have a mechanism in place to address those situations.

I pray that you will look into these suggestions with favor. God bless you, your cabinet members, and your family.

Thank you.

More than Just Sympathy

What, a man raping another man? This is something folks back home will be surprised to hear. Yes it’s weird, but it’s true; some men do rape other men in some parts of the world

Dito sa Saudi Arabia, kapag wala kang bigote ang tingin sa iyo ng mga Arabo ay para kang isang babae. Ngayon kung medyo mistisohin ka pa, maganda ang katawan, matabok ang puwit, at laging bagong paligo at mabango, asahan mong pagtritripan ka nila dahil sa kanilang paningin isa kang sexy star.

Si Ed ay cashier noong araw sa Al Kharj branch ng aming company. Tuwing umaga trabaho niya ang ideposito ang collections of the previous day sa down town. Dahil may kalayuan din ang aming office sa downtown kung saan naroroon ang mga banko, kinakailangan niyang bumiyahe sakay ng taxi. Isang umaga, Yemeni ang driver ng nasakyan niyang taxi pabalik sa opisina. Dahil seguro guwapo at malinis sa katawan si Ed, pinagtripan daw siya ng driver. Hindi naman siya ginalaw. Inilabas lang naman nong driver ang ari niya at nilarolaro habang nagdradrive. Takot na takot si Ed ng dumating sa opisina. Sabi namin na pasalamat siya at hindi siya dinala sa disyerto. May mga storya kasi na sa disyerto daw kadalasan dinadala ng mga rapist ang kanilang biktima. At doon na nila iiwan pagkatapos abusuhin. Mula noon hindi na bumibiyahe si Ed ng mag-isa.

Reynaldo Cortez, a welder in one of the car care shops at Sinaya in Riyadh, was not as lucky. When a Pakistani driver tried to molest him sometime in 2003, he fought back, and in the process of defending himself stabbed to death his would be rapist.

For the offense, he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. On appeal, the sentence was reduced to 10 years in October 2004. However in 2005, the High Court in Riyadh that gave the final verdict sentenced him to death. After that, the only way Cortez could be saved was through the grant of forgiveness from the family of his victim.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said they did their best to save Cortez. They said they negotiated with the family of the Pakistani driver and offered SR 100,000 blood money so that Cortez may be forgiven. They said they even hired the services of a Pakistani professional negotiator. But all those effort failed. All that the family of the victim wanted was to see the execution go through.

Last Wednesday, as we continue to celebrate our Independence Day as well as the Migrants’ Month, we were greeted with the sad news that the death sentence of Reynaldo Cortez was finally executed. In minutes, the world joined the Filipinos in the Kingdom in mourning. Another comrade has fallen.

Back in the Philippines, the sadness among the bereaved family and relatives of Cortez was aggravated by the news that the fallen hero’s body cannot be brought home, because it has to be buried before sunset on the day of the execution. The immediate burial was in accordance with traditions of Islam, which Cortez embraced during his stay in the Kingdom.

For not being able to bring Cortez’ body home, the Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia said in a phone patch interview that, “we can only sympathize with the family of Cortez.”
Had the family of the Pakistani driver accepted the SR 100,000 blood money offered by the DFA, Cortez would still be alive and free today. He would have flown back home to be with his family, and never to leave them anymore.

But the offer was rejected, and Cortez had to die. Instead of just paying the usual lip service and saying, “we sympathize with the family,” I think it will be more appropriate and better appreciated if DFA gives the SR 100,000, which was rejected by the family of the Pakistani driver, to the wife and six children that Reynaldo Cortez, our fallen hero, left behind.

I call on the various Overseas Filipino organizations in the Kingdom, and around the world, to officially ask the President to approve the release of funds required. After all, the amount is just a small fraction of what was spent for Dematera.

I think there is also a need to revisit the provisions of sections 24 to 26 of R.A. 8042, with the objective of assessing the effectiveness so far of the Legal Assistant for Migrants Workers Affairs' Office as well as the status of the Legal Assistance Fund.

There is also a need to set up a Fund for blood money, so that the Post and the community need not beg around whenever the need arises. A certain percentage of the government’s savings from debt servicing, brought about by our dollar remittances, should be allocated for this purpose.

Reynaldo Cortez will not be the last to need help. In Saudi Arabia alone there are already three waiting in the death row. The time for government to act is now. ###

Belittling the Overseas Filipinos

During the last couple of weeks, we have witnessed the strengthening of the peso against the dollar. Whether this strengthening is real or artificial does not matter. The fact is that the pesos’ strengthening has adversely affected the Overseas Filipinos and their families.

In school we were taught that a strong peso means higher purchasing power. In layman’s term it simply means that with a strong peso we should be able to buy more goods and services. If that statement is true, the decrease in the dollar’s exchange rate should therefore not worry the families of Overseas Filipinos in the Philippines since the decrease will be cancelled out by an equivalent decrease in the prices of goods and services.

However the laws of economics do not seem to apply in the Philippines. While the government has continuously announced that the economy is improving, this is not being felt at all by the consumer sector. In fact, instead of prices going down, prices of prime commodities continue to rise. The failure of the ‘strong peso’ to provide better purchasing power has caused a double edged problem to the Overseas Filipinos and their families.

To maintain the present peso equivalent of their dollar remittances, Overseas Filipinos have to tighten their belts to be able to remit more dollars to their families back home. In the Philippines, the families of Overseas Filipinos also have to tighten their belts to make the best of what they received from family members abroad.

But to Secretary Neri, Overseas Filipinos should even be thankful because they are not being taxed anyway, obviously referring to the aborted plan to tax the Overseas Filipinos’ income. To him it is more important for government to provide a peso-dollar protection for the Filipino exporters because their peso earnings are getting smaller, unlike the overseas Filipinos whose remittances are, according to him, getting higher due to better quality jobs they land into. Neri sees the diminishing income of the export sector, but his eyes are closed to the Overseas Filipinos’ dilemma. He thinks that the remittances are getting higher because Overseas Filipinos get higher pay for better jobs, but fails to see that Overseas Filipinos have to send more dollars to maintain the peso equivalent of what families back home are receiving.

I wonder what could be the reason why it is too easy for cabinet members like Neri to belittle us Overseas Filipinos. They are aware that there are millions of us spread all over the globe; they know that if we want we can bring down the economy, and make the government officials fall to their knees; they know that if we cut our remittances by half for three consecutive months we can bring back the exchange rate to 56 pesos to the dollar or even higher and make the members of the Makati Business Club cry; they know that at any point in time we can make or break a sitting President. Yet why are they so brave to give us so little importance, if any?

My history teacher in high school once told us that there is power in numbers. I believe him because I have seen it worked in several occasions, most recent of which are the two impeachment cases filed against GMA. Those two cases did not prosper because the opposition in the lower house did not have the number of votes needed.

How about us Overseas Filipinos, do we have the strength in number that would make Malacanang tremble? The latest estimate places the number of Overseas Filipinos to about eight million. If on the average there are three voting members in each Overseas Filipino family, the eight million will easily translate to twenty four million votes - enough to send a presidential candidate to Malacanang. Do we have the number? The answer of course is yes. Yes we have the number, but we do not have the strength!

I know it is sad to admit that while we Overseas Filipinos have all the power in our hands, we have not been able to use it. The reason is because up to now, we are still so disorganized; we are just like broomsticks scattered on the floor – sometimes stepped on, sometimes kicked to the corners, sometimes picked up and broken into pieces. And for as long as we remain scattered, the high and mighty, the Neris and his kind, will continue to step on us, kick us to the corners, or even break us into pieces. I can only hope and pray, that one day one of those kicks will be strong enough to awaken the sleeping giant in us. ###