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SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ) | onte: 27 JAN 2018)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) &
Third Regular Session )

HOUSE BILL No__6405

AN ACT FIXING THE FREQUENCY OF MEMBERSHIP COLLECTION BY THE
OVERSEAS WORKERS WELFARE ADMINISTRATION FROM ITS OVERSEAS
FILIPINO WORKER MEMBERS TO TWO YEARS

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled,

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In response to the distressed conditions of many overseas Filipino workers in 1977,
then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Letter of Instructions (LOI) 537 which created a
“Welfare and Training Fund For Overseas Workers” in the Department of Labor (formerly
Ministry of Labor), for the purpose of providing social and welfare services to Filipino
overseas workers, including insurance coverage, legal assistance, placement assistance, and
remittance services. The said fund was designed to be infused with the contributions from
overseas employers of Filipino workers. On 1 May 1980, Presidential Decree 1694 was
issued, formalizing the operations of the fund into a more comprehensive welfare fund, then
referred to as the WelFund, to be administered by its board of trustees. In 1987, then
President Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order 126, reorganizing the Ministry of Labor,
and renamed WelFund to what is now known as the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration (OWWA).

On 19 September 2003, OWWA issued Board Resolution No. 138, instituting the
Omnibus Policies of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. Giving teeth to its
mandate, OWWA provided in said resolution the formal provisions which serve as basis for
it to collect contributions from its members. These relevant provisions are provided under
Sections 1 to 3 of Article V on Collection Policy, which explicitly state as follows:

“SECTION 1. Legal Basis for Collection of Membership Contribution. — Letter of
Instructions (LOI) No. 537 mandates the compulsory payment of OWWA membership
contribution in the amount of US$25.00 or its equivalent,

SECTION 2. Separation of Sea-based and Land-based Workers Contributions. —
To effect a more efficient fund management between the two (2) sub-sectoral groups, the


collection of membership contribution shall be accounted for in two (2) separate books of
account.

SECTION 3. Frequency of Membership Collection. — The membership
contribution shall be collected on a per contract basis.”

Under the same Omnibus Policies, particularly sections 3 and 4 of its Article IV on
Membership, itis stated that:

“SECTION 3. Effecti of Membership. OWWA membership, either through the
compulsory or voluntary coverages, shall be effective upon payment of membership
contribution until expiration of the employment contract.

In case of voluntary members who register on-site, membership coverage shall not
exceed two (2) years.

SECTION 4. Renewal of Membership. Membership shall be renewed upon payment
of contribution on contract renewal/issuance of new contract. In the case of voluntary
membership, coverage shall be renewed upon payment of contribution.”

Unquestionably, the OWWA Fund, presently administered by a Board of Trustees
composed of the Secretary of Labor and Employment as Chairman, the Undersecretary of
Labor and Employment, the Administrator of the OWWA, the POEA Administrator, the
secretaries of the DFA, DOF, DBM, and a representative each from the management sector,
the labor sector, the land-based sector, the sea-based sector and the women’s sector who are
appointed by the President, has provided significant benefits to its member-Overseas Filipino
Workers, providing responsive programs and services, protecting the latter’s rights and
promoting their interests and welfare.

Nonetheless, a scrutiny of the records showing OWWA’s collection of membership
contributions specifically from its compulsory members based on the contract they entered
into will easily show that a clear situation of inequity exists as far as the frequency of
membership collection from the sea-based members is concerned.

Filipino seafarers generally have employment contracts which are shorter in length
than those granted to our land-based overseas workers. Considering the greater risks
involved to seafarers working on board international fleets in the open seas, their
employment are deliberately made shorter to a span of three to six months. With the
frequency of membership collection by OWWA from its members made dependent on the
renewal of the latter's contract, then, the Filipino sea-based members are left with no choice
but to pay more fees than the other members of OWWA. Even while these contributions are
shouldered by the principal or ship owner employing our Filipino seafarers, the added
burdens that these recurring fees cause to them can eventually lead some of these principals
and ship owners to employ other nationalities instead. This can then adversely affect the
employment opportunities available to our maritime professionals.

The decision of OWWA to make separate accounting books for the collection of the
membership fees, as shown in the Omnibus Policies above, is indicative of its recognition of
the difference between the sea-based and land-based overseas workers, as far as their

2


respective working conditions and terms of employment are considered. It is this same
apparent distinction which leads us to rectify the inequities brought about by the contract
based membership collection from our migrant workers.

It is observed that the OWWA, under its Omnibus policies has set the membership
coverage of voluntary members to a maximum period of two years. Thus, in order to have
equality among all its members, this measure adopts a scheme whereby the frequency of the
membership contribution collection be fixed for every two years, making it time-bound,
instead of contract-bound.

ATO A. MANALO
Parfy-list Representative


SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )

Third Regular Session )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
House Bill No.

AN ACT FIXING THE FREQUENCY OF MEMBERSHIP COLLECTION BY THE
OVERSEAS WORKERS WELFARE ADMINISTRATION FROM ITS OVERSEAS
FILIPINO WORKER MEMBERS TO TWO YEARS

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled,

Section 1. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) shall continue to
have the authority to collect membership contributions from each of its compulsory and
voluntary members in the amount of US Dollars: Twenty Five ($25) or its equivalent, in
accordance with its Board Resolution No. 138 issued on 19 September 2003, particularly
Article V, Section 1 thereof.

Section 2. The OWWA shall be allowed to collect the $25 contribution or its equivalent

from each of its members only after every two (2) years from the last membership
contribution made.

Section 3. All other laws, orders, issuances, circulars, rules and regulations or parts
thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

Section 4. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two
newspapers of general circulation,

Approved,