Audit of P100-M legal fund for OFWs sought

The House committee on overseas workers affairs on Wednesday asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to submit a detailed report on the utilization of the P100-million legal assistance fund for migrant workers provided under a 1995 law.

Rep. Roman Romulo, vice chairman of the committee, said an audit of the fund was necessary to justify a proposal under House Bill No. 701, authored by Valenzuela Rep. Rex Gatchalian, providing the DFA with P30 million legal assistance fund every year for distressed Filipino workers abroad.

Jose Cabrera, DFA representative in a public hearing on pending bills involving migrant workers, said he was not certain that the P100 million legal assistance fund provided under Republic Act No. 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, had been disbursed.

RA 8042 identified the sources of the P100-million fund as follows: P50 million from the President’s contingency fund, P30 million from the Presidential Social Fund; and, P20 million from the Welfare Fund for Overseas Workers (membership dues paid by OFWs to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration).

The law restricted the use of the fund to the provision of legal services to migrant workers and overseas Filipinos in distress.

“The expenditures to be charged against the fund shall include the fees for the foreign lawyers to be hired by the Legal Assistance for Migrant Workers Affairs to represent migrant workers facing charges abroad, bail bonds to secure the temporary release of workers under detention, court fees and charges and other litigation expenses," the law prescribed.

Cabrera told congressmen that the P100-million fund has not been fully provided. In 2005, he said, the legal assistance fund amounted to only P15 million. The following year, only P17 million was provided and another P15 million in 2007.

“For this year, the DFA asked Congress to allocate P30 million for LAF. Our information, although we don’t’ have the official notice yet from the Department of Budget, the LAF was increased to P60 million," Cabrera said.

Some committee members wondered why the DFA has not used up the P100-million fund considering the growing number of Filipinos facing legal problems abroad.

Based on a report Cabrera submitted to the committee, the DFA used only P7. 036-million out of the P15-million allocation in 2005 for legal assistance to 66 OFWs.

In 2006, DFA disbursed P12.1 million to help 148 Filipinos out of the P17 million allocation. Last year, the DFA used P12.3 million out of P15 million in helping 86 distressed Filipinos.

Cabrera explained that the legal assistance fund is used primarily for Filipinos facing criminal cases, especially when there is no volunteer lawyer available, or the Filipino has no capacity to hire his own lawyer.

Besides, he said the DFA has been looking for practical resolution of cases especially on labor matters. “In UAE, for example, the services of a lawyer cost like $2,000 if it is a labor case (involving) claims of $1,000 or less. That is not worth paying for a lawyer with more than what the worker can get in return. This is one way of evaluating a case," he explained.

Gatchalian said distressed Filipinos overseas could possibly not be aware of the availability of the legal assistance fund to help them in their legal battles.

“I guess we need more legal workers, especially in countries where there’s big number of OFWs with legal problems. Even if you ask the POLOs (Philippine Overseas Labor Officers) there are hundreds and hundreds (of OFWs) whose cases are waiting to be heard, seeking legal advice," said Gatchalian.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Carlos Padilla recommended that the bill on additional legal assistance fund be converted into a resolution, and that a technical working group be tasked to study the definition of a migrant Filipino worker.

He asked if an overseas job applicant who has fallen victim to illegal recruitment could be considered a migrant worker who could be entitled to legal assistance from government. “These people will surely need legal assistance, too," Padilla pointed out. - Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV

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