Fixed forex rate petitioners turn to Kabayan for help

Failing to secure an audience with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Malacanang, the Jeddah-based group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has turned to Vice President Noli de Castro for help in putting forward its petition for a special exchange rate for remittances. Ronnie Abeto, senior leader of the V-Team, said in an e-mail to GMANews.TV that de Castro has agreed to meet them next week. De Castro is concurrently the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino communities. The meeting has been tentatively set on Sept. 3 at de Castro's office. Earlier, the V-Team decided to postpone the August 21 schedule for the submission of the petition for failing to get an audience with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Initially, members of the group did not agree with the idea that the petition be submitted instead to the vice president. The V-Team launched a campaign for the petition on August 1, urging President Arroyo to take steps in fixing the foreign exchange rate at P50:$1 amid the rising value of the peso, including the putting up of a standby fund to serve as subsidy for fixed foreign exchange rate for OFW remittances, similar to the $1 billion stabilization fund set aside by the Development Bank of the Philippines for exporters. The group claimed that the rising peso has reduced the value of remittances by 20 percent at the expense of the families of OFWs. - Luis Gorgonio, GMANews.TV