Skip to main content

Revilla wants full disclosure of fees on OFWs' money transfers

 

By

Marlon Purificacion
 
People's Journal

SENATOR Ramon “Bong Revilla Jr. is pushing for a bill mandating remittance agents and companies to fully disclose terms and costs of the money transfer service being offered to  overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

"These OFWs dedicate all their labor and sacrifices for the betterment of their families. Their salaries, wages or earnings that they send home are products of love and hard work," Revilla said in filing Senate Bill No. 438 or the “Remittance Act of 2019.”
"Recognizing the valuable contribution of our OFWs in our economy, this measure seeks to protect the hard-earned money of our OFWs. It requires the disclosure of charges and fees that would be paid for sending their money through remittance agents and companies. Likewise, it penalizes price gouging or the exorbitant charging of fees for the transactions being made,” Revilla added.
The measure requires remittance companies to disclose all finance charges and other fees on the money transfer service and to strictly adhere to the terms and conditions of their remittance.
The bill requires remittance agents and companies to be duly registered, licensed and must have met all the requirements of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
All remittance agents and companies shall follow the exact real time exchange rate at the beginning of the business day as posted in the Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin of the BSP.
The BSP, in accordance with its rules and regulations, shall impose a flat rate transaction for senders from the Philippines.
The remittance agents and companies shall be required to include a waiver form for each transaction clearly specifying the exchange rate provided for the currency, including the additional fees being deducted from the original remittance.
If the recipient consents to the exchange from the original currency to Philippine peso, a signed acknowledgment will have to be made.
The remittance agents and companies are also required to serve notice to the parties concerned that senders are generally not permitted to require that the money transfer be made in the original currency, except in specific countries where senders are given the option of receiving the money in original currency without any additional exchange fees being charged to the sender.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday...
Read more

Africa roads are world’s deadliest despite few cars ---- AFP

ADDIS ABABA: Africa has the fewest roads and cars of any region, and yet the largest ratio of vehicle deaths, caused by the usual suspects — unsafe habits, speeding and drinking — but also poor infrastructure, scant rescuers and old cars. As everywhere, speed, alcohol and not wearing a seat belt or helmet are among the main causes of death and injury, say experts. But in Africa, where there are 620 traffic deaths every day, these problems are compounded by bad roads, outdated vehicles, minimal prosecutions and a shortage of emergency services. A recent World Health Organization report found that Africa surpassed the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia — which recorded the most road deaths — with a record ratio of 19.5 people killed per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021. Home to only around four percent of the world’s automobiles, Africa accounted for 19 percent of road deaths last year. “What is worrying is the upward trend in Africa,” said Jean Todt, a former head of the Internati...
Read more