Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) stand to save P100 to P500 when sending money to the Philippines once the new Philippine Payments and Settlements System Remit System starts operating before the fourth quarter of the year.
Also known as the Philpass Remit System, the new settlement system for money transfers would eliminate third party courier services between commercial banks in remittances involving bank credits, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.
"This will reduce the cost of remitting money from the OFW remitter to the beneficiary," the BSP said.
"Under the existing system, beneficiaries pay from P150 to P550 as back-end processing fee. With the migration to the new system, the fee will be reduced to P50 for each remittance transaction as the BSP will be charging banks a minimal amount for the settlement of transactions," the BSP explained.
With the Philpass Remit System, families of OFWs would be able to save from P92 million to P922 million a year in remittance fees, the central bank said.
The central bank said the Philpass Remit System is a "safer, faster, and cheaper means of remittance transactions," as it uses the BSP-Philpass clearinghouse in moving remittances from a local bank to another bank where the OFW beneficiary maintains an account.
The system is an initiative of the BSP and the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. (ABROI), under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed in December.
The Philpass Remit System was originally scheduled to start in the first quarter, but only one bank was able to migrate to the new system since the MOA was signed. The BSP did not name the bank.
"Only this bank therefore will be able to service the processing of incoming and outgoing remittances at P50 per transaction as back-end processing fee charged to the OFW beneficiary, while the rest of the ABROI member banks might still charge the old rate," the central bank said.
According to the BSP, other member banks would come on stream once the remaining issues on hardware and system connectivity have been resolved.
Other ABROI members expect to migrate to the new system this month at the end of June, while two banks would be able to comply with the new system at the end of September.
Remittances by OFWs grew by 7 percent to $4.339 billion in the first quarter of the year from $4.057 billion a year earlier.
Last year, the money transferred by OFWs to relatives in the Philippines went up by 5.4 percent to a record $17.348 billion from $16.426 billion
The BSP expects OFW remittances to grow by 8 percent this year.
About 81 percent of total remittances reported by local banks in the first quarter came from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UK, Japan, Singapore, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. —VS, GMANews.TV, Article posted May 24, 2010 - 06:44 PM
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
100 OFWs jailed in Qatar wish to be home by Christmas
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: November 08, 2009
MANILA, Philippines -- About 100 overseas Filipino workers languishing in a deportation jail in Doha, Qatar, have urged the government to work for their speedy repatriation so that they could be reunited with their families in time for the holiday season.
The OFW alliance Migrante-Middle East said the Filipinos were neglected by the Philippine diplomatic and labor officials Qatar, even after the workers nearly died in a fire that broke out at the jail on Oct. 18.
John Leonard Monterona, the Saudi Arabia-based regional coordinator of the Migrante-Mideast, said he was in touch with one of the OFWs, Nelly (not her real name) who recounted how she and the other Filipinos got the scare of their lives when they found themselves trapped inside the jail during the morning fire.
“They helped one another destroy the six-inch-thick padlocks, and so were able to rush out of their cells,” Monterona said, adding that the fire was put out by authorities and no one was hurt.
“If not for our will and collective action, we would have been burned alive,” he quoted Nelly as saying. Nelly is a domestic helper who ran away from her abusive employer.
Nelly was finally repatriated last week but she told Migrante that about 100 more Filipinos were still staying at the detention center. Monterona said he got the names of 52 of the detainees together with their case numbers and asked the Philippine Embassy’s assistance to nationals unit, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to look after the Filipinos.
“We already sent an official letter inquiring into the status of the cases of the 52 OFWs and the others who were stranded, urging the embassy to fast track the resolution of the cases so that they could be sent home and they could spend Christmas with their loved ones,” Monterona said.
He said many of the detainees have been languishing at the deportation center for three to six months.
“Just like in other deportation centers, our fellow OFWs stranded in Doha deportation center have been neglected. No visitation, no assistance and no welfare services were given to them while inside the deportation center even after the fire broke out,” Monterona said.
One OFW inside the Doha deportation center is about three-months pregnant, according to Monterona.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: November 08, 2009
MANILA, Philippines -- About 100 overseas Filipino workers languishing in a deportation jail in Doha, Qatar, have urged the government to work for their speedy repatriation so that they could be reunited with their families in time for the holiday season.
The OFW alliance Migrante-Middle East said the Filipinos were neglected by the Philippine diplomatic and labor officials Qatar, even after the workers nearly died in a fire that broke out at the jail on Oct. 18.
John Leonard Monterona, the Saudi Arabia-based regional coordinator of the Migrante-Mideast, said he was in touch with one of the OFWs, Nelly (not her real name) who recounted how she and the other Filipinos got the scare of their lives when they found themselves trapped inside the jail during the morning fire.
“They helped one another destroy the six-inch-thick padlocks, and so were able to rush out of their cells,” Monterona said, adding that the fire was put out by authorities and no one was hurt.
“If not for our will and collective action, we would have been burned alive,” he quoted Nelly as saying. Nelly is a domestic helper who ran away from her abusive employer.
Nelly was finally repatriated last week but she told Migrante that about 100 more Filipinos were still staying at the detention center. Monterona said he got the names of 52 of the detainees together with their case numbers and asked the Philippine Embassy’s assistance to nationals unit, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to look after the Filipinos.
“We already sent an official letter inquiring into the status of the cases of the 52 OFWs and the others who were stranded, urging the embassy to fast track the resolution of the cases so that they could be sent home and they could spend Christmas with their loved ones,” Monterona said.
He said many of the detainees have been languishing at the deportation center for three to six months.
“Just like in other deportation centers, our fellow OFWs stranded in Doha deportation center have been neglected. No visitation, no assistance and no welfare services were given to them while inside the deportation center even after the fire broke out,” Monterona said.
One OFW inside the Doha deportation center is about three-months pregnant, according to Monterona.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Overseas vote turnout still at 20% as voting ends in 3 days
JERRIE M. ABELLA, GMANews.TV
05/08/2010 | 04:40 AM
Three days before the month-long overseas absentee voting (OAV) ends, turnout remains at a low 20% of almost 600,000 voters as of morning of Friday.
Of the registered 589,830 overseas Filipino voters, only 118,053 have cast their votes as of 9:00 am of May 7, according to a release posted on the Web site of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
While the figure has surpassed the 16% overseas voter turnout in 2007, which did not involve a presidential contest, it is still a far cry from the 65% turnout recorded in the 2004 presidential elections, which was a tightly-contested race between incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the late King of Filipino Movies, Fernando Poe Jr.
The DFA-OAV Secretariat reported the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Hong Kong still has the highest number of voters at 33,619, followed by the Philippine Embassies in Riyadh (8,969) and Singapore (7,384).
Other foreign service posts with the highest turnout are the PCG in Jeddah (5,714); the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Al Khobar (4,069); the Embassy in Kuwait (3,963); the PCG in in Los Angeles (3,148); the Embassy in Abu Dhabi (2,703); the PCG in Dubai (2,527); and the PCG in New York (2,392).
Only Hong Kong and Singapore are using the automated election system, to be used throughout the Philippines for the first time on May 10, while voting for the rest of the Philippine diplomatic posts across the world employs postal and personal voting.
Despite the low turnout, Philippine officials remain hopeful that the remaining days will see a surge in the number of Filipinos who will cast their votes until May 10, when overseas voting will officially end.
“We are expecting more voters to come in or mail their ballots in the next three days. Our Embassies and Consulates General are well-prepared to receive the expected large number of voters who will cast their votes, even at the last minute," DFA undersecretary and OAV Secretariat chair Rafael Seguis said in a statement.
He said efforts were made in the various Philippine posts to encourage more voters to participate in the OAV.
Seguis cited the Philippine Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in New York, which came out with statements urging registered voters to go out and vote.
The Embassies in Tel Aviv and Pretoria meanwhile are coordinating with the members of the Filipino communities there to encourage their members to cast their ballots.
In San Francisco, Consul General Mariano Paynor has appeared in media-sponsored forums to encourage Filipinos there to go out and vote.
The Embassy in Kuala Lumpur likewise conducted information drives on how to fill out their ballots.
Embassies and Consulates General are open over the weekend and on election day on Monday, May 10, to accept voters and mailed-in ballots.
The deadline for receipt of mailed ballots for postal voting and casting of ballots for personal and automated modes of voting is on May 10 at 6:00 p.m. Philippine time.
Low turnout in HK
As this developed, a Filipino group in Hong Kong scored the Consulate there and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for the alleged irregularities and the hundreds of voters who were unable to vote as their names were missing on the voters’ list.
In another statement, Gabriela Women Party-HK said there was a lack of voter education for this year’s polls, resulting in the low turnout in the Chinese special administrative region.
While it continues to be the highest among the Philippine posts, turnout in Hong Kong is only at 35% of the 95,355 registered Filipino voters there.
In the 2004 presidential elections, about 65,000 Filipinos or about 66% of the registered voters voted in Hong Kong.
“Similar inactions characterized the 2004 and 2007 OAV and it was only through the efforts of migrants’ organizations that the turnout was raised. There was not enough budget allocated for education and information and insufficient effort to encourage OFWs to vote," said Gabriela chair Cynthia Abdon-Tellez.
She also cited cases of hundreds of overseas Filipino workers whose names were missing even as they were able to vote in the 2004 and 2007 elections.
“With only a few days left for the OAV, all signs say that less than 50% of registered voters in Hong Kong will be able to vote. Thousands of OFWs have again been disenfranchised in this election no matter how many times the COMELEC tries to deny it and cover up its irresponsibility," Tellez declared.
In a separate interview, Vice Consul Val Roque said they are nevertheless hoping to reach the turnout recorded in 2004 when the OAV ends on May 10.
He also confirmed there are about 500 voters who went to the polling centers but were unable to find their names.
“We wrote to COMELEC about these voters’ concerns, and we were given proof that these voters did not participate in the 2004 and 2007 elections," Roque told GMANew.TV.
He, however, confirmed there are cases where voters registered in Hong Kong but were listed as voters in other countries.
“There’s more that needs to be done with the voters’ list," Roque added.—JV, GMANews.TV
05/08/2010 | 04:40 AM
Three days before the month-long overseas absentee voting (OAV) ends, turnout remains at a low 20% of almost 600,000 voters as of morning of Friday.
Of the registered 589,830 overseas Filipino voters, only 118,053 have cast their votes as of 9:00 am of May 7, according to a release posted on the Web site of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
While the figure has surpassed the 16% overseas voter turnout in 2007, which did not involve a presidential contest, it is still a far cry from the 65% turnout recorded in the 2004 presidential elections, which was a tightly-contested race between incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the late King of Filipino Movies, Fernando Poe Jr.
The DFA-OAV Secretariat reported the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Hong Kong still has the highest number of voters at 33,619, followed by the Philippine Embassies in Riyadh (8,969) and Singapore (7,384).
Other foreign service posts with the highest turnout are the PCG in Jeddah (5,714); the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Al Khobar (4,069); the Embassy in Kuwait (3,963); the PCG in in Los Angeles (3,148); the Embassy in Abu Dhabi (2,703); the PCG in Dubai (2,527); and the PCG in New York (2,392).
Only Hong Kong and Singapore are using the automated election system, to be used throughout the Philippines for the first time on May 10, while voting for the rest of the Philippine diplomatic posts across the world employs postal and personal voting.
Despite the low turnout, Philippine officials remain hopeful that the remaining days will see a surge in the number of Filipinos who will cast their votes until May 10, when overseas voting will officially end.
“We are expecting more voters to come in or mail their ballots in the next three days. Our Embassies and Consulates General are well-prepared to receive the expected large number of voters who will cast their votes, even at the last minute," DFA undersecretary and OAV Secretariat chair Rafael Seguis said in a statement.
He said efforts were made in the various Philippine posts to encourage more voters to participate in the OAV.
Seguis cited the Philippine Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in New York, which came out with statements urging registered voters to go out and vote.
The Embassies in Tel Aviv and Pretoria meanwhile are coordinating with the members of the Filipino communities there to encourage their members to cast their ballots.
In San Francisco, Consul General Mariano Paynor has appeared in media-sponsored forums to encourage Filipinos there to go out and vote.
The Embassy in Kuala Lumpur likewise conducted information drives on how to fill out their ballots.
Embassies and Consulates General are open over the weekend and on election day on Monday, May 10, to accept voters and mailed-in ballots.
The deadline for receipt of mailed ballots for postal voting and casting of ballots for personal and automated modes of voting is on May 10 at 6:00 p.m. Philippine time.
Low turnout in HK
As this developed, a Filipino group in Hong Kong scored the Consulate there and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for the alleged irregularities and the hundreds of voters who were unable to vote as their names were missing on the voters’ list.
In another statement, Gabriela Women Party-HK said there was a lack of voter education for this year’s polls, resulting in the low turnout in the Chinese special administrative region.
While it continues to be the highest among the Philippine posts, turnout in Hong Kong is only at 35% of the 95,355 registered Filipino voters there.
In the 2004 presidential elections, about 65,000 Filipinos or about 66% of the registered voters voted in Hong Kong.
“Similar inactions characterized the 2004 and 2007 OAV and it was only through the efforts of migrants’ organizations that the turnout was raised. There was not enough budget allocated for education and information and insufficient effort to encourage OFWs to vote," said Gabriela chair Cynthia Abdon-Tellez.
She also cited cases of hundreds of overseas Filipino workers whose names were missing even as they were able to vote in the 2004 and 2007 elections.
“With only a few days left for the OAV, all signs say that less than 50% of registered voters in Hong Kong will be able to vote. Thousands of OFWs have again been disenfranchised in this election no matter how many times the COMELEC tries to deny it and cover up its irresponsibility," Tellez declared.
In a separate interview, Vice Consul Val Roque said they are nevertheless hoping to reach the turnout recorded in 2004 when the OAV ends on May 10.
He also confirmed there are about 500 voters who went to the polling centers but were unable to find their names.
“We wrote to COMELEC about these voters’ concerns, and we were given proof that these voters did not participate in the 2004 and 2007 elections," Roque told GMANew.TV.
He, however, confirmed there are cases where voters registered in Hong Kong but were listed as voters in other countries.
“There’s more that needs to be done with the voters’ list," Roque added.—JV, GMANews.TV
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
