Pimentel proposes further reduction in OWWA fee to P200

A further reduction in overseas Filipino worker’s voluntary membership in the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has been proposed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel, Jr. who suggested OFWs be made to pay only P200 per contract.
Pimentel reasoned out that although the OWWA had reduced the membership fee from P1,275 to only P1,050 based on the drop in the value of the Philippine peso vis-à-vis the dollar, P1,050 is still a huge amount and is hard on the OFWs, particularly those earning wages as small as $200 a month.

However, Pimentel hailed OWWA’s decision to cut down the fee. "I commend the OWWA for reducing the fee. It’s a good move. Better still if it is reduced to P200, whatever be the exchange rate between the peso and the US dollar," Pimentel said.

"We are talking here of ‘fees’ which in the old law means payment for the cost of processing papers. P200 would be reasonable enough to cover those costs," Pimentel added.

He also said the OWWA fee is not meant to be a revenue-generating scheme. If the idea is to generate revenue, then OWWA needs a specific law from Congress to be able to do that, he stressed.

OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque earlier said that because of the 19 percent drop in the value of the peso vis-à-vis the dollar, the OFW contribution to the welfare fund was set at P1,050 per employment contract.

Roque said this was arrived at during the OWWA Board meeting last December 17, 2007 when the board issued OWWA Resolution No. 38 lowering the contribution.

He said the previous amount was based on a peso-dollar exchange rate of P51=$1.

Roque added in an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com that OWWA Resolution No. 38 will also be applied retroactively to benefit OFWs who paid the OWWA membership contribution at the old exchange rate from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007.

He said OWWA contributors during the said period will be issued credit memoranda, which shall entitle the bearer OWWA member to an extended OWWA membership for a period of three (3) months beyond the two (2) years / twenty-four (24) months maximum entitlement to OWWA programs and services. These members will be notified in writing of their entitlement to the said credit memorandum.

To prevent any further similar occurrences, Roque said the collection of OWWA membership contributions would reflect accurately the changing dollar-peso exchange rate, the aforementioned resolution also provided that the said exchange rate would be based on the average dollar-peso exchange rate of the preceding month as determined by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.--ABS-CBN News

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