SEVERAL OFW groups and nongovernment organizations have come out openly against the House consolidated bill drafted by a technical working group for containing provisions that are disadvantageous to millions of overseas workers.
Venecio Legaspi, one of the founders of the Jeddah-based OFW Council of Leaders (OCL), expressed dismay over the House bill’s provision aimed at abolishing the principle of Joint and Solidary Liability (JSL) found in existing laws.
“Without the JSL provision, our overseas workers will be doomed and be at the mercy of foreign employers and foreign recruitment agencies that are beyond the jurisdiction of Philippine laws,” Legaspi said.
In the proposed consolidated bill of the House technical working group led by Rep. Joey Salceda and cochaired by Rep. Eric Pineda of 1Pacman Party-list, the recruitment and manning agencies will contribute $25 per worker to be deployed to a Malasakit sa Kabayan Fund to be held in trust by the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (Owwa). The aggrieved workers will then file for money claims with Owwa, which will be tasked with validating such claims and managing the Kabayan Fund.
“If they think that coming up with this Kabayan Fund is sufficient reason to eliminate the joint and several liability between foreign employers and Philippine recruitment agencies, then they are wrong. Access to this fund will extinguish the moral and legal obligations of private recruitment agencies to look for the best employers because if something goes wrong there is anyway a pool of funds to ensure quick settlements and forego legal obligations. This makes the bill more suitable for the creation of a department for recruitment agencies rather than OFWs,” Legaspi, a vice president of a bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, added.
Susan Ople, a former labor undersecretary and now the head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, echoed the concerns of the OFW Council of Leaders.
“The House TWG bill pushes most of the legal obligations toward foreign employers that are beyond the reach of Philippine laws. I am sure that some of the provisions there were not reflective of the President’s desire to help our OFWs,” Ople said.
Ople said that the entire bill is premised on the need to make foreign employers more accountable compared to private recruitment agencies and their foreign counterparts. “They should be held equally accountable because they share a common business interest.”
The OFW advocate also questioned the inclusion of a provision that would make it mandatory for rehired OFWs to obtain mandatory insurance to be charged to their employers.
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