OWWA asked: Where's money raised by OFWs?

MANILA, Philippines - A migrant workers' group on Monday urged the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration (OWWA) to explain where the bulk of its overseas Filipino workers' fund went after the implementation of the agency's omnibus policy in 2003. About 30 members of Migrante International, the country's broadest alliance of OFWs, trooped to the OWWA office in Pasay City to protest the alleged "criminal neglect" of OFWs with the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the OWWA Omnibus Policies. "Nasa'n na yung pera namin? Kasi may mga hindi malamang kinapupuntahan ng pera (Where is our money? We don't know where some of the funds went), " Gary Martinez, Migrante International spokesperson, told GMANews.TV on Monday. The OWWA Omnibus Policy or OWWA Resolution No. 038 seeks to provide the guidelines for the agency in the course of implementing delivery of services to OFWs. In 2003, then Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Roseller Barinaga, opposed the policy's implementation. Barinaga cited "contentious" items in the Omnibus policies which include: the termination of OWWA membership upon expiration of employment contract; restricting voluntary membership to two years; selective repatriation of migrant workers in times of crises, epidemics and wars; and the sole deciding authority of the OWWA Board of Trustees with regard to the agency’s operations. Under the current OWWA policy, only active members of OWWA could avail of the services and benefits that include a P100,000 life insurance (for natural death), and P200,000 insurance (for accidental death), disability benefits, scholarship programs, repatriation and reintegration programs. The group accused the government and OWWA officials of "robbing millions os OFW money" from shady deals with several officials close to the Arroyo administration. According to the group, the mismanagement of the P10-billion OWWA fund - gathered from the $25 OWWA membership fee of OFWs - endangers the lives of migrant workers particularly during times of crises when their immediate repatriation is needed. Martinez cited the transfer of P6.8-billion to two government banks - Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines - in 2006, which caused the delay in the repatriation of 30,000 OFWs during the Lebanon crisis. He also noted the 2004 release of $293,500 out of the P10-billion OWWA money to then General Roy Cimatu, head of the Philippine Disaster Preparedness Team in Iraq. "To date, the huge sum of money is still unliquidated," he said. Meanwhile, Josephine Tobia, OWWA OIC for Advocacy & Social Marketing Division told GMANews.TV that the funds were intact and had not been siphoned off by officials elsewhere. "OWWA has always been for the repatriation of OFWs. The P10-billion fund remains intact," she said. Although the omnibus policy stipulates that the agency could only repatriate registered workers during times of war, Tobia said the OWWA considers other cases of distressed Filipino workers. "It's a case to case basis," she said. "But we make sure that all Filipinos would be repatriated when a crisis arises." Migrante International warned of a bigger protest later this month as well as several rallies in the upcoming 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila to trumpet their calls to scrap the Omnibus policies. - GMANews.TV