Bello insists OFW ID free of cost

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Saturday insisted that the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) ID, is free.

"The issuance of ID will be on August after the issuance of implementing rules. i-DOLE is free to all OFWs," Bello said in a text message to GMA News Online.

The labor chief issued the statement amid reports that the OFW ID is "not free after all."

The report by Kodao Productions said that Filipino expats were disappointed to discover that the OFW ID, touted as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s "best gift" to millions of OFWs, is not actually free.

"Some Filipino expats tried to apply for the OFW card by accessing the iDOLE portal https://ofw.idole.ph/ and were surprised to discover that they will be charged with 501 pesos to get the card, aside from the delivery fee," the report said.

The OFW ID was soft launched on Wednesday by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The OFW ID or i-DOLE will replace the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) that OFWs needed to secure before their deployment.

An OEC is a requirement for OFWs departing from the Philippines to their employment destination, although many OFWs say it is a useless document that serves no other purpose but to generate revenues for the government.

In a statement during the launch, DOLE said that OFWs need not apply for the ID.

"The processing of the iDOLE would be shouldered by the employers; hence, OFWs need not pay for the cost of the ID, which would be delivered by PhilPost to their respective addresses," it said..

In the Kodao Production's report, Dubai residents Jun Cargullo was quoted as saying that the ID is only relevant to domestic transactions.

“At the end of the day, it is us, OFWs, who will have to pay for the card,” Cargullo was quoted as saying.

“The OFW ID is actually more expensive than the OEC. We used to pay only 100 pesos to acquire an OEC every time we travel and we go back home at least once every year. So it will take at least five travels or five years before we can recoup the same expense of getting an OEC five times,” Cargullo said. —ALG, GMA News