DOLE warns recruiters vs passing on insurance costs to OFWs

20 Oct 2010 -- Labor officials sternly reminded recruitment firms Wednesday against passing on to prospective overseas Filipino workers the cost of their mandatory insurance coverage.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is already monitoring potential violators.

"The insurance coverage shall be effective for the duration of the worker’s employment contract and shall at least cover the benefits provided for by the Omnibus Rules and Regulations Implementing Republic Act 8042 as amended by R.A. 10022," DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in an article posted on the DOLE website.

She added POEA under Administrator Jennifer Manalili has vowed to strictly monitor agencies trying to circumvent the law.

Under Republic Act 10022, licensed recruitment and manning agencies or foreign employers shall bear the cost of the insurance coverage of workers.

However, insurance coverage is optional for name hires, rehires (balik-manggagawa or vacationing workers) as well as workers hired through government-to-government arrangement.

These workers may request their foreign employers to pay the cost of insurance or they themselves may pay the premium.

Republic Act 10022 requires recruitment agencies to shoulder the following insurance costs:

• the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration life insurance of P100,000 for natural death; 
• P200,000 for accidental death;
• P100,000 for total permanent disability;
• P50,000 burial benefits;
• $15,000 in case of accidental death;
• $10,000 in case of natural death; and
• $7,500 in case of permanent disablement, including repatriation costs, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evacuation and medical repatriation. 

The insurance coverage guidelines were signed on September 8 and published in a newspaper on September 17.

"Hence, the insurance policy has become a mandatory requirement for processing of OFW contracts and overseas employment certificates (OECs)," the DOLE said.

Baldoz said a certificate of cover (COC) provided by an insurance firm licensed and certified by the Insurance Commission (IC0), is now required before the issuance of OECs or exit clearance of agency-hired OFWs.

She said a certificate of entry or other proofs of insurance coverage from the manning agency shall be accepted for seafarers if the vessel is covered by protection and indemnity.

The coverage must also conform to POEA rules and regulations and the POEA Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Overseas Employment of Filipino Seafarers on Board Ocean-Going Ships. – JERRIE ABELLA, GMANews.TV