Binay suspends 6-month contribution to Pag-Ibig of OFWs

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay, also the government’s housing czar, has ordered the suspension of a Philippine Overseas Employment Administration directive for a compulsory six-month contribution to the Pag-Ibig fund as a precondition for migrant workers’ deployment abroad.

Binay, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, also called for a “thorough study” of the POEA memorandum and “more consultations with affected sectors,” especially Overseas Filipino Workers, or OFW groups.

In a statement, Binay said the study would cover “not only the legality of the policy, but also the propriety of mandating an advanced payment as a precondition to deployment abroad.”

Binay said, “The guiding principle should be government helping OFWs and not as a burden to them.”

The POEA recently issued a directive compelling OFWs to pay an initial Pag-Ibig fund membership contribution of P600 as a prerequisite to the issuance of the labor department-attached agency’s Overseas Employment Certificate.

The POEA circular became effective on August 1 as required by Republic Act No. 9679, or the “Home Development Mutual Fund Act of 2009,” which places informal sectors like OFWs under mandatory Pag-Ibig coverage.

The Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based militant OFW group Migrante-Middle East had assailed the mandatory contribution as another form of “legalized kotong [unjust vexation].”

John Leonard Monterona, M-ME regional coordinator, asked both President Aquino and Binay to do something about what he called an “unjust and anti-OFW policy.”

Meanwhile, Binay directed the HUDCC to look into the “possible lowering of housing loan interest rates” to benefit poor families who wish to have their own homes.

Binay also said that under his stewardship, HUDCC would review the state’s micro housing financing and development financing programs.

At the same time, he vowed to hasten the issuance of land titles to qualified beneficiaries in all state housing projects nationwide, including squatter relocation sites.

In a dialog with the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association, Binay disclosed that the government’s housing backlog had reached 3.7 million units.

“A great number of Filipinos remain landless and homeless and poverty has forced many to leave their provinces to seek a better way of life in Metro Manila and in other urban centers,” he said. –Jerry E. Esplanada, Philippine Daily Inquirer