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We are representatives of organizations of Filipinos overseas,
their families in the homeland and advocates of migrants’
rights from churches, government employee associations, institutions,
non-government organizations.
We have come together to stress unity in the sector we represent
to fight corruption, abuse and misrule at the Overseas Workers
Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Labor
and Employment ploy to corner the OWWA Fund and Medicare Fund.
We are specifically calling for the scrapping of the Omnibus
Policies of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration on
the following grounds, among others:
- The said Omnibus Policies will severe membership status
of migrant workers who return to the Philippines and those
who get terminated after three months and harshly limits
coverage of benefits programs most especially on migrant
workers’ families;
- Permits the Board of Trustees to invest funds in uncertain
financial securities and realign the migrant workers’ trust
funds without clear limitations;
- Gross abandonment of government responsibility to repatriate
distressed migrants, limiting the repatriation program to
the time of crisis, epidemics and wars;
- The full loss of transparency in OWWA financial transactions
as all documents will be classified ‘confidential’;
- Grabbing full government control of migrant workers’
funds with no semblance of accountability, service and policy
involvement of the funder-beneficiaries – our migrant workers.
The Omnibus Policies will convert the nature of migrant
workers’ trust funds at the OWWA into public funds – rendering
it an easy target for any government use outside of the
welfare of migrant workers and their families; and,
- Out-phasing of funds and farming out welfare programs
intended for the welfare of migrant workers and their families
are clearly established in the OWWA Omnibus Policies. On
the employees concern, it threathens their employment and
job security as it will result to mass lay off.
Generally, the Omnibus Policies will delete whatever rights
and benefits are left to migrant workers on their collective
accumulated funds. These policies fully shield the government
accountability towards its duty to protect the welfare of
migrants and their families and absurdly passes this responsibility
to migrants themselves.
We actively call for the scrapping of the OWWA Omnibus Policies
and propose for the creation of a genuinely pro-migrant Charter
that shall govern the OWWA operations and processes.
We shall exert all efforts to forge greater unities to save
the migrant workers’ funds and fully expose all schemes to
legitimize government-initiated scams at the OWWA.
OVERSEAS WORKERS ACTION
against CORRUPTION AND TYRANNY NOW!
(An Overseas Workers Alliance against Corruption and Tyranny)
OW ACT NOW!
Initial List of participating organizations:
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