Binay orders DOLE to sit down with Insurance Commission

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President and presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Jejomar Binay directed yesterday the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to discuss with the Insurance Commission and other concerned agencies the possibility of allowing Hong Kong- based insurance companies to provide coverage for Filipino workers.

Binay also directed the DOLE, Insurance Commission, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the National Labor Relations Commission, to discuss other insurance concerns involving OFWs in accordance with Republic Act 10022 or the amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act.

The Vice President issued the directive in the light of complaints from Hong Kong employers over the compulsory insurance requirement under RA 10022 despite their provision of insurance cover for their foreign domestic helpers.

The move was also prompted by a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong that the General Chamber of Hong Kong Manpower Agencies is open to extending the insurance coverage already being provided to foreign domestic helpers in compliance with the insurance benefits stipulated in RA10022.

The POLO reported that at present, the benefits for OFWs in Hong Kong under their employment contract only cover medical treatment for illness or personal injury, compensation for injury by incident or occupational disease, death, and repatriation of remains.

RA 10022 requires other benefits like insurance cover for accidental death, subsistence allowance benefits, money claims arising from employer’s liability, compassionate visit, medical evaluation and medical repatriation.

OFW groups in Hong Kong have threatened to launch protests against the mandatory insurance.

“We say enough is enough. If the Philippine government will stand by on this mandatory insurance scheme, it shall face the wrath of OFWs. Dec. 12 shall be marked with the biggest OFW action in Hong Kong at this point of Aquino’s presidency,” said Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the militant United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK).

“The Aquino government has to act and it has to act now. If the next few weeks will not result to something beneficial to Filipino migrants, then there really is more than enough reason for OFWs to pour out into the streets,” she said.

“It is our livelihood that is at stake here for our employment is under threat. Some would-be OFWs have already been affected and the anger of HK employers may cause more job loss,” she said.

“If the Aquino government will not provide us decent employment back home, then it has no business jeopardizing our only means to survive,” she added.

The group called for the exemption of OFWs in Hong Kong from the mandatory insurance rule.

Balladares lashed out at the POEA for insisting on implementing the rule.

“The government of President Noynoy Aquino through the POEA should not pose as helpless implementers of the law. As the executive branch, they can do a lot in ensuring that the spirit of protection of OFWs is realized. –Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star)