Give us more time to pay, laid-off OFWs ask lenders
MARK JOSEPH UBALDE, GMANews.TV
MANILA, Philippines - For most of the laid-off Filipino workers from Hannstar Display Corporation in Taiwan, the Year of the Ox is far from okay.
Two weeks from now, Elwood Yambao would have to give his first payment to the lending company where he borrowed P55,000 to cover his expenses going to Taiwan. He returned home last November, along with 171 others, after the LCD company they were working for suffered a huge blow from the global economic crisis.
Yambao said he doesn’t know where to get the money to pay his lenders. Both he and his wife are without jobs in Olongapo City and they still have two young kids in school.
“How can we pay our debts if we don’t even have a source of income anymore?" Yambao told GMANews.TV in an interview on Tuesday.
Although the Philippine government has helped retrenched and laid-off workers to get back on their feet through livelihood programs, skills retraining and overseas job matching, these casualties of the US-led economic crisis are finding themselves slowly being swallowed up by debts they incurred in their previous job abroad.
Toots Ople of the Blas F. Ople Foundation, an organization advocating migrants’ issues, appealed to the lending companies for a reprieve in the payment of loans of laid off overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“If possible, they should freeze the interest of the loans for the time being," Ople said in a phone interview.
According to Ople, laid off workers from Taiwan borrowed between 50,000 and 120,000 from various lending companies to cover their placement fees and other travel expenses.
Some of the lending companies charge four percent interest every month for the loaned money.
The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) earlier said it is willing to give as much as P500,000 to start a small business.
Carmelita Dimzon, OWWA chief, said the loan is available at a low five percent interest per annum with no collateral and is payable for over 24 months with an interest-free grace period of 80 days.
“The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) has called a meeting with the lending companies to tell them to impose a moratorium on the payment of loans by laid off workers," Dimzon said.
Dimzon reported that lending companies have yet to decide about the moratorium.
In the latest data furnished to GMANews.TV, the POEA showed that 3,567 Filipinos from seven countries, including the Chinese province of Macau, have been the latest casualties of the global financial crisis.
The jobs of thousands of Filipinos overseas were threatened since October when US subprime companies declared bankruptcy, sparking fears among international investors that triggered an economic slowdown, which ultimately caused lay offs.
Owing to its US export-dependent economy, Taiwan had the largest number of companies affected by the economic crunch. A total of 60 companies in the electronic, metal works and semi-conductor industry laid off 3,321 Filipino workers due to bankruptcy and retrenchment. - GMANews.TV
MANILA, Philippines - For most of the laid-off Filipino workers from Hannstar Display Corporation in Taiwan, the Year of the Ox is far from okay.
Two weeks from now, Elwood Yambao would have to give his first payment to the lending company where he borrowed P55,000 to cover his expenses going to Taiwan. He returned home last November, along with 171 others, after the LCD company they were working for suffered a huge blow from the global economic crisis.
Yambao said he doesn’t know where to get the money to pay his lenders. Both he and his wife are without jobs in Olongapo City and they still have two young kids in school.
“How can we pay our debts if we don’t even have a source of income anymore?" Yambao told GMANews.TV in an interview on Tuesday.
Although the Philippine government has helped retrenched and laid-off workers to get back on their feet through livelihood programs, skills retraining and overseas job matching, these casualties of the US-led economic crisis are finding themselves slowly being swallowed up by debts they incurred in their previous job abroad.
Toots Ople of the Blas F. Ople Foundation, an organization advocating migrants’ issues, appealed to the lending companies for a reprieve in the payment of loans of laid off overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“If possible, they should freeze the interest of the loans for the time being," Ople said in a phone interview.
According to Ople, laid off workers from Taiwan borrowed between 50,000 and 120,000 from various lending companies to cover their placement fees and other travel expenses.
Some of the lending companies charge four percent interest every month for the loaned money.
The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) earlier said it is willing to give as much as P500,000 to start a small business.
Carmelita Dimzon, OWWA chief, said the loan is available at a low five percent interest per annum with no collateral and is payable for over 24 months with an interest-free grace period of 80 days.
“The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) has called a meeting with the lending companies to tell them to impose a moratorium on the payment of loans by laid off workers," Dimzon said.
Dimzon reported that lending companies have yet to decide about the moratorium.
In the latest data furnished to GMANews.TV, the POEA showed that 3,567 Filipinos from seven countries, including the Chinese province of Macau, have been the latest casualties of the global financial crisis.
The jobs of thousands of Filipinos overseas were threatened since October when US subprime companies declared bankruptcy, sparking fears among international investors that triggered an economic slowdown, which ultimately caused lay offs.
Owing to its US export-dependent economy, Taiwan had the largest number of companies affected by the economic crunch. A total of 60 companies in the electronic, metal works and semi-conductor industry laid off 3,321 Filipino workers due to bankruptcy and retrenchment. - GMANews.TV
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