POEA, OWWA Reduce Fees on OFWs Beginning Jan. 1, 2008

[chua_riwap]

Oo nga naman. Bakit yung presyo ng OWWA Fee eh, base pa sa P51.00 na exchange rate. Eh, nasa P41 na lang ang US$.


GMANews.TV
Dec 13, 2007

POEA, OWWA Reduce Fee on OFWs Beginning Jan 1, 2008
12/13/2007


First, the good news: The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration have reduced the membership fee collected from overseas Filipino workers to reflect the peso appreciation against the US dollar.

Now, the bad news: The reduction won't take effect until January 1, 2008.

Emerging from an emergency meeting of the OWWA board on Thursday, POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz announced that the $25 OWWA membership fee will be pegged at the peso-dollar exchange rate of P42:$1, instead of P51:$1, beginning Jan. 1, 2008

This translates to P1, 050, instead of the P1, 275 that OWWA used to collect from departing OFWs with contracts processed through the POEA.

This fee is collected at the POEA together with the processing fee of P 200 and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) coverage of P900, Baldoz said.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. on Wednesday demanded an explanation from the POEA on what he considered as overcharging of the OWWA membership fee.

Villar filed Resolution 247 for the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development to conduct an inquiry into the reported excessive collection of processing fees from OFWs.

The senator’s move followed calls from a recruitment leader for reduction of the fees charged on OFWs.

Lito Soriano, former president of Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI), said recruitment agencies have borne the brunt of this overcharging, noting a provision of the law requiring the employer to pay the fee.

In most cases, he said, the workers end up paying the fee.

Upon learning of the decision OWWA board decision, Soriano appealed to the POEA to implement the reduced fee immediately.

Soriano said this is anomalous, noting that more than 100,000 OFWs have come home for the Christmas holidays and they are required to secure OECs (overseas employment certificates) from the POEA prior to their return to their jobsites abroad. “This translates to P25 million pesos that will again flow into the coffers of the government and short-changing our OFWs of P250 pesos for each contract processed by the POEA," Soriano insisted.

“They should reconsider for the sake of our workers who toiled all year and are here to spend their precious dollars at the same time shoring up the dollar remittances for the country," he added. - Marie Neri, GMANews.TV

[freefries]

Sa totoo lang dapat matagal na nilang inimplement to eh, kundi pa sila nabuko eh hahayaan na lang na ganun lagi ang singil nila sa mga balik mangagawa...

Ang rason nila kaya daw nila hindi naipatupad ito kasi daw paiba iba daw kasi ang palitan na minsan 43 pa daw...sh#t!!! sinong lolokohin nila, kahit pa yan maging 45 eh ang laki ng difference from 51 na nakaimpliment ngayon...

[VtEC]

it's about time naman na e.ok yan

[bladerunner]

gago talaga yan mga yan. sinasadya yan. anong klase rason yun naghihintay ng stable.palibhasa mga manloloko talaga mga empleyado ng gobyerno. take advantage

[akal]

Bakit sa January pa. Dapat nga implement na ngayon yung changes ng membership fees. Medyo me kalabuan yata yung refund, OWWA pa.

Solon wants OWWA to refund overcharged OFWs


By Norman Bordadora
Inquirer
Last updated 04:44am (Mla time) 12/16/2007


MANILA, Philippines-- THE OVERSEAS Welfare Workers Administration (OWWA) should return the excess in membership fees it collected from departing Filipino workers after it allegedly used "an artificial exchange rate of P51 to the US dollar," a member of the House of Representatives said Saturday.
Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago said the OWWA should determine who were wrongfully charged after the agency pegged its $25 membership fee at P51 to the dollar, resulting in a P1,275 fee for departing migrant workers.
"This is the right thing to do--for the OWWA to determine who were overcharged, and then give back to the workers the portion of the fees that they, in effect, overpaid for their membership fees," Santiago said.
Santiago pointed out that the peso closed Friday at 41.21 to a dollar. At this rate, he said, the peso equivalent of $25 should only be around P1,030.
Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. earlier filed a resolution urging the appropriate Senate committees to look into the use of a fixed rate of P51 to the dollar which pegged at P1,275 the peso equivalent of the $25 membership fee that the OWWA charges departing Filipino workers.
On Dec. 13, OWWA's board of trustees decided to peg the $25 membership fee at an exchange rate of P42 to a dollar, or P1,050. But the lower rate will take effect on Jan. 1.
At the adjusted exchange rate, the membership fee will be reduced by P225 or almost 18 percent less.
Santiago said the reduced rate should be used immediately.
"Where is the spirit of burden-sharing here? Why should OWWA or other agencies get to charge fees based on a preferential exchange rate? Are they now also engaged in the business of currency arbitrage?" Santiago said.
Currency arbitrage means taking advantage of divergences in exchange rates in different money markets by buying a currency in one market and selling it in another.
"The OWWA should be computing the $25-fee based on prevailing exchange rates, in the same manner that migrant workers and their families here have to cope with market rates when they have to convert their dollars into pesos," Santiago said.
Santiago said that based on the estimated one million Filipino workers departing for overseas employment every year, the OWWA collects a total of $25 million, or P1.05 billion, in membership fees every year.
The fees go to a welfare fund that provides benefits, including low-cost loans, to migrant workers and their families here.

[spearhead_970]

Bakit kailangan pang patagalin yan??

[b1rken5tock]

Bakit kailangan pang patagalin yan??

pamasko daw...