Manila Moods: OWWA Gouges OFWs Again

MANILA, Philippines -- It took a huge outcry by migrant groups and overseas Filipino workers this past month to get the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to admit that it had been overcharging workers going abroad for at least six months following the weakening of the US dollar.

Every Filipino who goes abroad to work has to pay a $25 membership fee to OWWA before leaving the country. Admittedly, this fee is used for a good purpose which is mainly to fund an insurance scheme that helps OFWs in distress when they need emergency medical attention abroad or need a plane ticket to return home after being abandoned by their employers. The problem with OWWA arose when it continued using the old conversion rate of P51 to $1, when in fact the sinking dollar had pushed the exchange rate to P42 to $1.

Departing OFWs were therefore being made to pay P1,275 each, which is $25 at the old conversion rate of P51 to $1, instead of only P1,050, or a difference of P225 or around $5.30 at the exchange rate of P42 to $1.

Now 225 pesos a head may not seem like a lot of money, but when multiplied by the estimated one million Filipinos who were deployed abroad this year to work, that comes out to around $5.3 million in excess fees that OWWA never had the right to charge, and even less right to keep.

After a meeting of the OWWA Board on Dec. 17, the membership fee was officially adjusted to P1,050, effective Dec. 21. All OFWs who had overpaid would have their insurance coverage extended for three months. In addition, OWWA promised to use an average of the dollar/peso exchange each month to determine how much OFWs have to pay in pesos for their membership.

One of my questions is why did it take OWWA so long to first admit that it was overcharging OFWs for their membership fee? It seems that it only did so after a stink was raised by worker rights groups and the resulting media coverage. Would OWWA have just continued to charge departing OFWs P1,275 each, no matter how low the dollar sank? It seems so, though I’m sure if the dollar had suddenly soared, it would have immediately readjusted the amount it was charging workers in pesos.

My other question is what has happened to the $5.3 million in excess fees that OWWA has obviously decided to hang on to? Some of it will surely be used to cover the extended coverage given to OFWs who overpaid, but surely some of this will be left over considering the economies of scale that are involved in covering the millions of OFWs, who naturally do not all become sick or abandoned at the same time. Already a congressman has called for a review of OWWA’s Trust Fund to account for the extra $5.3 million.

Undoubtedly, all OFWs would like to see greater transparency in how OWWA is run, and specifically how the Trust Fund is being managed. OWWA already has a spotty reputation regarding its handling of such a huge fund that is derived from the hard-won earnings of Filipinos working abroad. OFWs deserve a better OWWA and a better accountability of how their money is being used.

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I have just moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to join a new English-language newspaper being established by the Abu Dhabi Media Co. Inc.

I am the deputy Opinion editor of what will be a quality broadsheet of around 60-80 pages a day. Although a name has been chosen, it is not being divulged publicly until it is registered. Although we are only going to launch in March 2008, most of the 150-member staff is expected to be in place here by the end of January.

The Filipino community here seems to be large and diverse, though of course not reaching the number of Pinoys in Saudi Arabia. There were an estimated 250,000 Filipinos in the UAE as of December 2006, while there are a million in the Kingdom.

If there are any Filipino readers in the UAE who would like to meet me to discuss any topic, please feel free to contact me by email and I will be in touch with you.

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Comments or questions? Email me at rasheedaboualsamh@yahoo.com. Visit my blog at: http://rasheedsworld.blogspot.com .
- Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, INQUIRER.net, December 29, 2007