“OWWA is supposed to do all these using the US$25.00 membership contributions of foreign employers and the OFWs.”
by Ducky Paredes
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has not been too successful in looking after the welfare of the millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the millions more of their dependents whom OWWA is also supposed to serve.
For the most part, OWWA has been remiss in its most basic functions.
The agency has two-fold mandate: Delivery of welfare services and benefits; and Ensuring capital build-up and fund viability.
OWWA is supposed to: Protect the interest and promote the welfare of OFWs in recognition of their valuable contribution to the overall development effort; Facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the Labor Code concerning the responsibility of the government to promote the well-being of OFWs; Provide social and welfare services to OFWs, including insurance, social work assistance, legal assistance, cultural services, and remittance services; Ensure the efficiency of collection and the viability and sustainability of the fund through sound and judicious investment and fund management policies;
Undertake studies and researches for the enhancement of their social, economic and cultural well-being; and Develop, support and finance specific projects for the welfare of OFWs.
OWWA is supposed to do all these using the US$25.00 membership contributions of foreign employers and the OFWs.
Among its functions is that of immediately repatriating OFWs who have been abused and exploited by their employers.
The agency is supposed to provide hospitalization, educational and livelihood support to OFWs and their families, but OFWs have been complaining for years that they have not been getting anything from OWWA.
Under its past administrators, OWWA had become a publicity-driven agency which came to the aid of distressed OFWs only when their cases had reached public and media attention.
Some OFW groups are now batting for the next OWWA administrator to come from their ranks, saying they know best what their needs are, as well as the prevailing conditions in overseas job markets. (I have several dozen e-mails urging support for an OFW to head OWWA.)
But, to whip OWWA into shape requires a person with a strong political will, someone who can not be cowed or intimidated, someone who no longer needs to learn the ropes in how government runs.
A former OFW as OWWA chief, no matter how credentialed he may be, could become like a fish out of the water if appointed to the OWWA.
The OFW-appointee may be eaten alive by OWWA personnel who need disciplining; he might be at a loss in dealing with other government agencies like the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Department of Labor (DOLE).
President Arroyo has offered a choice to former Surigao Congressman Prospero Pichay to head either OWWA or the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
SBMA might look interesting but this would not be the sort of work that interests the politician in Butch Pichay. Pichay should, instead, go for the OWWA posting, where he can do a lot more good.
As a lawmaker, Pichay already saw the many problems encountered by OFWs and their families, including failure to adapt to the stresses of working overseas and the breakdown of OFW families.
In fact, Pichay authored and sponsored bills in support of OFWs and their families, including a bill addressing the problem of illegal recruitment and another calling for badly needed amendments to the Migrant Workers’ Act.
Pichay will surely be interested in looking into and in implementing the many provisions of the Migrant Workers Act which had not been effected since its enactment in 1995.
OWWA is not a school to learn how to provide OFWs the support they badly need; it is not a training ground for one person to earn his spurs. What OWWA needs is someone with a strong political will, experience in government, and a very strong conviction.
Pichay may not be a very popular figure and lost badly in the last senatorial elections; but, if he puts his mind to the problem of the OFW, chances are good that he can improve the way that OWWA serves them.
* * *
What was the basis for choosing the areas that would comprise the Bangsa Moro Homeland? Why are Compostela and parts of Davao Oriental, Iligan and Zamboanga cities and a fifth of Palawan included? If the basis is the presence of Muslims in these areas, why not also include Quiapo. Taguig, Baguio City and Greenhills in San Juan?
How can a homeland be scattered over non-contiguous areas? That really makes no sense at all. And what do we do with the Bangsa Moro people who will be found outside of the Homeland?
Other countries also have diverse peoples and cultures and religions. What most nations do is to integrate these diverse races so that they can live together in peace. By creating a Bangsa Moro homeland, we are accepting the fact that we are not one nation but a country of different tribes that can never live together peacefully? Even those in the Bangs Moro Homeland are made up of distinct tribes that cannot really work with each other. What a sad state for the Filipino!
This – creating a homeland based on religious and cultural differences — is the biggest mistake that any Philippine President has ever made and will be the beginning of the end of this country. In 100 years, Malaysia will take over Mindanao!
# # # #
hvp 08.06.08)
Post a Comment