HOUSE OF REPRE:
RECEIVED

Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

REGISTRATION UNIT
BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE

nous auino. 1791

Introduced by:
Gabriela Women’s Party Reps. EMMI A DE JESUS and ARLENE D. BROSAS

EXPLANATORY NOTE

When this bil was fist filed in the 15 Congress, it mainly trained its concer on the situation in the Middle East and
North Africa where violent civil unrest and the labor nationalization of domestic work among Arab countries were
taking place, endangering some 2.1 million OFWs who faced not only getting caught in the crossfire but also being
dislocated and deported. Two years afer, the political situation in MENA has not improved while events have rolled
outside ofthese regions which underscore the importance of this bill necessitating its immediate enactment

While North Africa has remained a tinderbox of political instability’, the labor nationalization policy in the Middle East
has graduated into a full-blown crackdown. In Saudi Arabia, the crackdown assumed the form of house-to-house
searches to flush out undocumented foreign workers, forcing some 6,000 Filipinos to put up tent cities in Philippine
posts and embassies in Riyadh and Jeddah to escape the Saudi police

Elsewhere, beset with high unemployment, Japan and South Korea have lately followed suit in implementing more
stringent labor migration rules. It is estimated that roughly 100,000 Filipinos will be affected by this new tight‘isted
approach on migrant labor in these two countries. The mass deportation of undocumented Filipinos already started in
Japan early this year when Japanese authorities forcibly hauled 40 Filipinos from their shelters and unceremoniously
flew them back to Manila?

Indeed, never have recent global developments so gravely challenged the country’s labor export policy as an
employment generation strategy. Even Europe and the United States are also in the thick of clamping down hard on
migrant labor to stem the tide of high unemployment in their economies and to ease the pressure on their welfare
obligations. It is estimated that these developments, as they occur in muttiple fronts, wil altogether affect some 3.5
milion Filipinos facing the threat of sudden termination of their employment contracts and involuntary repatriation

Itis this situation that this bill seeks to address and is, hereby, re-filed.

When the first trickles of repatriation occurred two years ago following the explosion of political unrests in the Middle
East, the Department of Labor and Employment was reported to have distributed a financial grant of P10,000 to each
OFW retumees of Region 10. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration did the same thing when OFWs started
returning to the country from Libya. But as the financial grant was not mandatory, not all returning distressed OFWs
received the amount and nothing has been heard of this DOLE/OWWA initiative since then. Moreover, the amount of
the financial grant was ‘too modest' to be of help to the distressed OFWs who were mostly not paid of their salaries in
their host countries and came home to a pile of debts.

‘There are stil periodic eruptions of civiian uprisings in Egypt and Tunis. Libya had installed a transition government but the
country is yet to restore order as roving fully-armeed milias compete with one another in carving their own politcal turfs, paying
litle regard to the central authority. Syria continues to be riven by a civil war whose end is nowhere in sight. In June this year, the
political unrest even spread to Turkey.

2IN THE 16™ Congress, this has been the subject of House Resolution No, 95, authored by the Gabriela Women's Party, calling
for a congressional investigation,

NTATIVES


Under Republic Act No. 8042 or the ‘Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995’, as amended by RA 9422
and RA 10022, the government is mandated to formulate and implement welfare and social services programs for
OFWs. Unfortunately, the welfare and social services programs that are mentioned in RA No. 8042 contemplated
only of good weather situation of OFWs. RA 8042 has no provision for services and programs for distressed OFWs
who find themselves in crisis situations and are forced to leave their host countries because of natural or man-made
calamities or for any reason other than the termination of their work contract.

‘The OWWA collects USD $25 (approximately equivalent to P1,000) denominated as “contributions” per contract from
each OFW who leaves the country. This is compulsorily exacted from each OFW even though the OFW is yet to eam
his/her pay and regardless of how much pay he/she is to receive in working abroad. But for every P10 that OWWA
spends, only P 60 centavos go to the welfare and services programs for OFWs. The rest are spent for the
operational expenses and investment programs of OWWA. Other welfare services and expenses, including
‘emergency assistance, are subject to approval by the OWWA Board as per the OWWA Omnibus Policies enacted in
2003. The OWWA Omnibus Policies also effectively limited the services and welfare assistance being provided by
the agency only to OFWs who have active contracts and paid membership dues/contributions to OWWA.

Because of these, distressed OFWs who were forcibly repatriated or evacuated due to crisis situations, or those who
have gone undocumented due to conditions and situations out of their control (ie. victims of trafficking, illegal
recruitment), are not guaranteed emergency financial assistance and benefit from the government ~ a clear violation
of the very mandate of RA 8042, as amended by RA 9422 and RA 10022.

Political analysts are of the observation that given the shaping political configuration in the Middle East and the
persistent aftershocks of the 2007 global economic crisis in the major capitalist countries, it will take a long while
before the foreign labor market will settle down back to normalcy. This brings home the incalculable risks that attend
the labor export policy of the government that are now bearing down on our OF Ws.

Itis, therefore, an imperative that the country must have a program that will provide a lifeline of relief and support for
distressed OFWs, regardless of whether they are documented or not

On these grounds, itis eamestly sought that this bill be approved with dispatch.

(con
EMMI A. DE JESUS NE ROSAS:

Gabriela Women's Party sabriela Women’s Party


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

1791
HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by:
Gabriela women’s Party Reps. EMMI A DE JESUS and ARLENE D. BROSAS

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISTRESSED
OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS (OFWs)

Ba it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Declaration of Principles - The State shall at all times uphold the dignity and promote the welfare of all
its migrant workers, whether documented or non-documented. It recognizes that OFWs are forced to seek
‘employment abroad in order to survive in the face of rising unemployment at home. Their continuing aggravated and
disadvantaged position as job seekers in the exploitative employment market abroad places them in extremely
vulnerable and distressing situations not only during natural and man-made calamities, but also as a consequence of
‘employment policy changes in receiving countries. The State, therefore, endeavors 10 alleviate their situation by
providing financial assistance which will hopefully tide them over during their most diffcutt time.

Section 2. Financial Assistance for Distressed OFWs and Schedule of Release-The Financial Assistance For
Distressed OFWs shall be in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000) to be released to each distressed OFW
within seven (7) days after the filing of application. The minimum requirement for filing of application shall be the
OFW's passport or any travel document, as proof of histher country of origin and date of arrival

Section 3. Distressed OFWs - Distressed OFWs shall refer to all Filipino Nationals, whether documented or non-
documented, who lost their jobs and were forced by circumstances to retum to the country. The term shall include,
but is not limited to, those who have been victims of human trafficking and/or illegal recruitment, those who have
been sexually abused, those who have been maltreated or undergone slave-like conditions or involuntary servitude,
those who have run away from their employers, those who have been repatriated from host countries hit by natural
and man-made calamities, including civil disorders, those who have sought refuge at Welfare Centers and those who
have been found stranded anywhere in host countries where they intended to seek employment.

Section 4. Implementing Agency and Funding - The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is
hereby tasked to implement this Act. The Financial Assistance for Distressed OFWs as provided for in this Act shall
be charged against the funds of the agency and shall form part of the OWWA program package for distressed OFWs,
independent and separate from the existing OWWA livelihood and starter kt packages that are optional for retuned
OFWs.

Section 5. Penalties - Any employee of the government found to have caused the delay of the release of the
Financial Assistance for Distressed OFWs within the schedule mentioned in Section 2 of this Act shall be subject to
the penalties as follows:


a. Ifthe employee who caused the delay is the supervisor or head or any equivalent capacity, he/she shall be
proceeded against in accordance with Section 11 (a) of the Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and
Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees’;

b.  Inallother cases, the penalties shal be as follows:
First offense — 90 days suspension
Second offense - 120 days suspension

Third offense — dismissal from service

Section 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations - The OWWA shall issue the Implementing Rules and
Regulations for this Act within three months after the approval of ths bill

Section 7. Repealing Clause ~ All other laws, decrees, rules and regulations, orders, and issuances inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly

Section 8, Effectivity - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in any
newspaper of general circulation