Baldoz, Binay to discuss mandatory OFW insurance
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will meet with Vice President Jejomar Binay to thresh out the problem involving mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers.
Baldoz said the meeting will be held this week, where she will update Binay on the implementation of the mandatory insurance, and get his inputs on the matter.
“I will be meeting with the Vice President this week. One of the agenda will be to provide him an update on what’s happening in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers," she said in an article posted on the government portal.
Baldoz said she asked for the meeting, and will bring her officials including Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac instead of Undersecretary Danilo Cruz, who is attending the Global Forum on Migration and Development in South America.
She said she will also bring with her the heads of the various Labor agencies involved in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Jennifer Manalili and National Labor Relations Commission chairman Jose Nograles.
“I will also invite to the meeting the heads of the Insurance Commission," she said.
The mandatory insurance for OFWs is a key provision of RA 10022, the amendatory legislation to the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
It mandates that every departing newly-hired OFW processed through an agency be covered by insurance to cover for accidental death; natural death; permanent total disability; repatriation cost of worker; subsistence allowance benefit; money claims arising from the employer’s liability; compassionate visit; medical evaluation; and medical repatriation.
The mandatory insurance is to be paid for by the overseas recruitment agency and it should not be charged against the worker.
But many foreign employers are opposing this, including those from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Even recruitment agencies in the Philippines voiced concerns this will result in fewer job orders and the termination of employment of OFWs, and asked for exemption from the new law.
Baldoz said one aim of the meeting with Binay is to look into the nature and extent of the complaints against the insurance.
The POEA, which implements the insurance, had explained though that it has no discretion to deviate from the law.
“With the law already in effect, the POEA is under obligation to implement the provision of RA 10022 on mandatory insurance cover for agency-hired workers leaving the country for the first time or those under new contracts for employment," Manalili had said. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Baldoz said the meeting will be held this week, where she will update Binay on the implementation of the mandatory insurance, and get his inputs on the matter.
“I will be meeting with the Vice President this week. One of the agenda will be to provide him an update on what’s happening in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers," she said in an article posted on the government portal.
Baldoz said she asked for the meeting, and will bring her officials including Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac instead of Undersecretary Danilo Cruz, who is attending the Global Forum on Migration and Development in South America.
She said she will also bring with her the heads of the various Labor agencies involved in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Jennifer Manalili and National Labor Relations Commission chairman Jose Nograles.
“I will also invite to the meeting the heads of the Insurance Commission," she said.
The mandatory insurance for OFWs is a key provision of RA 10022, the amendatory legislation to the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
It mandates that every departing newly-hired OFW processed through an agency be covered by insurance to cover for accidental death; natural death; permanent total disability; repatriation cost of worker; subsistence allowance benefit; money claims arising from the employer’s liability; compassionate visit; medical evaluation; and medical repatriation.
The mandatory insurance is to be paid for by the overseas recruitment agency and it should not be charged against the worker.
But many foreign employers are opposing this, including those from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Even recruitment agencies in the Philippines voiced concerns this will result in fewer job orders and the termination of employment of OFWs, and asked for exemption from the new law.
Baldoz said one aim of the meeting with Binay is to look into the nature and extent of the complaints against the insurance.
The POEA, which implements the insurance, had explained though that it has no discretion to deviate from the law.
“With the law already in effect, the POEA is under obligation to implement the provision of RA 10022 on mandatory insurance cover for agency-hired workers leaving the country for the first time or those under new contracts for employment," Manalili had said. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Comments