POEA washes hands over $25 OFW fee collection

The $25 membership fee being paid by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for every contract processed at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is directly remitted to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz made this clarification amid mounting calls to reduce the membership fees being collected from OFWs with the recent appreciation of the peso.

"We are not the agency responsible in collecting the membership fee. It's OWWA and these fees collected directly go to the OWWA trust fund," Baldoz told GMANews.TV in a telephone interview.

Baldoz said what POEA collects from the departing OFWs or from the contracts processed by the agency is the P100 processing fee which they directly remit to the national treasury.

However, Baldoz said there are indeed plans to reduce the membership fee being collected to OFWs from the existing P1,275 (which uses using the P51 to $1 exchange rate) to P1,050 (with the new exchange rate of P42 to the dollar).

"I already talked with OWWA Administrator [Marianito] Roque and he said he will propose this to the OWWA board," Baldoz disclosed, noting that adjustments in collection rates cannot be implemented without first securing the board’s approval.

"We cannot do it immediately because based on Roque's explanation there is a certain law that they follow at hindi naman pwede na every time na lang na bumaba o tumaas ang peso over the dollar maggagawa tayo ng adjustment," she added.

In an emergency meeting on Thursday, the POEA and OWWA agreed to adopt the P42:$1 exchange rate in computing the peso equivalent of the $25 OWWA membership dues effective January 1, 2008.

Recruitment companies have been asking the government to immediately reduce the fees collected to OFWs since they are the one shouldering it.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. had asked the Senate labor committee to conduct an inquiry on what he considered as overcharging on OFWs.

On Friday, Villar said the inquiry would be expanded to include other fees collected by POEA and other government agencies from OFWs like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for training courses. - Marie Neri, GMANews.TV

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