Online petition launched vs. ‘forced remittance’ bill
Migrants' rights group Migrante has launched an online petition against a proposed law requiring OFWs to send money to their legal dependents or face non-renewal of their passports.
The contested House Bill 3576, filed by OFW Family party-list Rep. Roy Señeres, empowers ambassadors, consul generals, chiefs of mission, or charge d’ Affaires to withhold passport renewals unless migrants prove they regularly send remittance to their families.
HB 3576 states that “OFWs, whether sea-based or land-based, are required to remit regularly a portion of their foreign exchange earnings to their family or legal dependent recipient.”
The online petition, launched by Migrante's chapter in the United Arab Emirates, can be seen here. It has 10 signatures as of posting time.
In their petition, Migrante compared HB 3576 to the late President Ferdinand Marcos' "draconian Executive Order 857," which mandated migrant workers to regularly remit 50 to 70 percent of their earnings to their beneficiaries in the Philippines.
“Nag-aala-Marcos itong si Rep. Seneres, shame on him for once again shoving this down our throats," said Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado, in a statement.
"It is a blast from the past and a slap in the face of OFWs around the world who are already knee-deep in debt and barely coping with the global economic crisis," she added.
Nhel Morona of Migrante-UAE told Gulf News that the bill is not favorable to OFWs, and insisted that cases of abandonment by migrant workers was not enough to make remittance mandatory at all.
Contradictory to the group's belief, Senares' office told the news agency in a letter that only erring OFWs will be covered by the bill.
“Over the years Congressman Seneres and this office have received numerous complaints of housewives being abandoned financially by their husbands abroad. This bill is only intended for ‘irresponsible OFWs’,” Terrado told Gulf News in a phone interview from Manila," Señeres' chief of staff, George Terrado, told Gulf News. — Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News
The contested House Bill 3576, filed by OFW Family party-list Rep. Roy Señeres, empowers ambassadors, consul generals, chiefs of mission, or charge d’ Affaires to withhold passport renewals unless migrants prove they regularly send remittance to their families.
HB 3576 states that “OFWs, whether sea-based or land-based, are required to remit regularly a portion of their foreign exchange earnings to their family or legal dependent recipient.”
The online petition, launched by Migrante's chapter in the United Arab Emirates, can be seen here. It has 10 signatures as of posting time.
In their petition, Migrante compared HB 3576 to the late President Ferdinand Marcos' "draconian Executive Order 857," which mandated migrant workers to regularly remit 50 to 70 percent of their earnings to their beneficiaries in the Philippines.
“Nag-aala-Marcos itong si Rep. Seneres, shame on him for once again shoving this down our throats," said Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado, in a statement.
"It is a blast from the past and a slap in the face of OFWs around the world who are already knee-deep in debt and barely coping with the global economic crisis," she added.
Nhel Morona of Migrante-UAE told Gulf News that the bill is not favorable to OFWs, and insisted that cases of abandonment by migrant workers was not enough to make remittance mandatory at all.
Contradictory to the group's belief, Senares' office told the news agency in a letter that only erring OFWs will be covered by the bill.
“Over the years Congressman Seneres and this office have received numerous complaints of housewives being abandoned financially by their husbands abroad. This bill is only intended for ‘irresponsible OFWs’,” Terrado told Gulf News in a phone interview from Manila," Señeres' chief of staff, George Terrado, told Gulf News. — Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News
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