ANTIPOLO City, August 3, 2010— Filipino migrant workers in the Mid-East assailed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s (POEA) decision to make the Home Development Mutual Fund or PAG-IBIG membership as a mandatory requirement in acquiring an overseas employment contract (OEC).

POEA management has issued Memorandum Circular No. 06 s. 2010 on July 7, making PAG-IBIG membership and contributions mandatory as a prerequisite in having an OEC.

“It’s like a holdup!” said John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East in a statement.

“Now they are telling the OFWs or the would-be-OFWs that to be able to get their OECs they need to shell out, P1,164 for OWWA membership; another P900 for Philhealth; and another P600 for the PAG-IBIG. Aside from these, he or she needed to pay P100 more for the processing fee. All in all, just for an OEC, an OFW needed to pay a total of P2,764. How about the other charges being imposed by different government agencies, while processing your requirements to work abroad like the passport, work visa, etc.?” Monterona asked.

“And what makes the mandatory PAG-IBIG fee anomalous is that the effective date of the implementation of the said compulsory membership is on August 1; but the POEA started collecting the fees prior to that date,” he added.

The migrant leader also said that while they commend the efforts of the government to give overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) a chance to have their own houses, through the credit facility of PAG-IBIG, however, making the membership with the agency mandatory narrows the opportunity of the OFW to choose whatever housing program that fits him or her.

Monterona urged the Philippine government to re-study the POEA memorandum and halt its implementation. (Noel Sales Barcelona)