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Statement - January 4, 2005
Reference: Connie Bragas-Regalado, Chairperson
Contact Numbers: 259-1145 and 0927-2157392
OWWA
Omnibus Policies victimize OFWs who perished in Phuket
The recent
news that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has refused
to give benefits to the bereaved families of overseas Filipino workers
who died in the tsunami disaster in Phuket, Thailand is rooted in
the illegal and immoral OWWA Omnibus Policies.
These Omnibus
Policies institutionalized the collection of a US$25 fee from each
OFW per contract (instead of from employers) and limit updated "
membership" to those with "active contracts."
We empathize
with the relatives of dressmaker Estelita Sales, the confirmed OFW
fatality in Phuket, Thailand, who were advised by OWWA Administrator
Marianito Roque that they will not get P220,000 worth of benefits.
Roque callously
said that "Sales is not a member and is not entitled to any
benefits as she only paid her membership fee in 2001."
Roque obviously
based his statement on the despicable Omnibus Policies. These Policies
manifest President Arroyo's criminal neglect of OFWs and their families.
The setup is worse than a "user-pay system" because even
if the OFWs had paid the membership fee, there is no guarantee they
will get the benefits or services due them - since when an OFW's
contract is terminated, he/she is no longer considered an OWWA member.
The anti-migrant
omnibus policies was passed last Sept. 19, 2003 by the OWWA Board
of Trustees (headed by Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas) amid
a shroud of secrecy. They were crafted without genuine inputs from
migrant workers. These policies have disenfranchised the late Sales
and countless OFWs and their families -- even though the entire
OWWA budget comes from the pockets of OFWs through the forced US$25-membership
fee.
This is
the morbid truth about the OWWA Omnibus Policies, the top officials
of OWWA and the current Macapagal-Arroyo administration on its treatment
of OFWs.
This is
how callous and anti-migrant this administration is. #
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