Solon: OFW ID supposed to be free but DOLE charging P720

A party-list lawmaker on Thursday accused the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) of using the OFW ID as a cash cow.

Interviewed on Dobol B sa News TV, ACTS-OFW party-list Aniceto Bertiz III said DOLE has been charging P720 per OFW ID or the iDOLE.

"This ID should be free," he said, adding it was their group which donated the OFW cards as an expression of gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte.

He also said the ID was useless as it is "not a functional card."

"Dagdag basura lang sa wallet," Bertiz said.

Bertiz also accused DOLE officials, including Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello, as well as Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), of spreading misinformation against him.

Bello: ID project already scrapped

In a separate interview, Bello said he put the OFW ID project on hold after learning that some personalities inside and outside of DOLE wanted to "earn" from it.

"Merong nag-alok ng pera para diyan. Pinaghahatian. Sabi ko alam mo, itong iDOLE Card para sa OFW, dapat walang gastos ang gobyerno at dapat walang gastos ang OFW. Kaya kung ganyan ang plano niyo, mabuti pa scrap natin. Which I did," he said.

Bello added, "Scrap natin ito until we can find a system that will provide an I-DOLE Card to our OFWs at no expense to the government and especially at no expense to our OFWs." —KBK, GMA News