Binay, DOLE to meet on OFWs’ mandatory insurance scheme

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is set to look into the complaints of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as well as foreign employers over the mandatory insurance scheme.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said she and other labor officials are set to meet with Vice President Jejomar Binay to discuss the nature and extent of the complaints against the government’s new hiring regulation.

Baldoz said DOLE officials would also update the Vice President in their meeting this week on the implementation of the mandatory insurance and get his views concerning overseas employment.

“One of the agenda is to provide him an update on what’s happening in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers,” she said, adding that she would also invite the head of the Office of the Insurance Commission.

The labor official explained that mandatory insurance is provided under the amended Migrant Workers Act and is paid by recruitment agencies.

She also stressed that the new regulation was meant to enhance protection and welfare of the estimated eight millions Filipinos working abroad.

However, since the law took effect, foreign employers from Hong Kong and Taiwan and some overseas recruitment agencies in the Philippines opposed the mandatory insurance, saying it will result in fewer job orders and the termination of employment of OFWs.

They asked for exemption from the new law, but the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ruled out the possibility of exemptions.

Binay wants review of new law

Binay has asked the OIC to review the new law.

“I have requested the Office of the Insurance Commission to review and possibly amend the new law requiring all recruiters to insure the Filipino migrant workers they hired,” Binay said, citing the woes of employers from Hong Kong and some countries in the Middle East.

“The employers in Hong Kong said that their government is implementing a law for a mandatory insurance coverage of OFWs. There will be double insurance for OFWs if this is not corrected,” he said.

The Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Hong Kong reported that the General Chamber of Hong Kong Manpower Agencies is willing to extend the insurance coverage to comply with the benefits mandated under RA 10022.

The amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act requires recruitment agencies to cover departing OFWs with insurance policies which include $15,000 for accidental death; $7,500 for permanent total disablement and $100 subsistence allowance benefit per month for a maximum of six months for a migrant worker involved in a case or litigation.

“I am confident that we can find a solution that will adequately protect the OFWs without causing them additional and unnecessary burden of expenses,” Binay said. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star) with Jose Rodel Clapano