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MANILA, Philippines?The amending law on the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 will reduce the benefits of almost a million Filipino seafarers, seafarers group Marino said Sunday.
In a phone interview with INQUIRER.net, Marino?s Milton Unso said the country?s 980,000 seafarers have a standard POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) contract that provides for an insurance benefit of $50,000 in case of death, plus $7,000 for every surviving child not more than 21 years old (not more than four children) and $1,000 burial assistance.
The amending law only provides for $15,000 in death insurance benefits.
?This new law will replace our existing contracts. Mababalewala ang mga magagandang benepisyo namin (Our better benefits will be cancelled). This is a diminution of our benefits,? he said.
Thus, he and his group are asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to veto the law, which will lapse into law tomorrow, March 8, if the President does not act on it.
?Medyo desperado na kami (We are a bit desperate here),? Unso said, adding that his group was not invited in the deliberations on the proposed law.
Of the 980,000 Filipino seafarers, some 250,000 are at sea at any given time.
Marino joined other migrants and migrants rights? groups, led by the Apostleship of the Sea Manila, Center for Migrant Advocacy, Center for Overseas Workers, Development Action for Women Network, and Episcopal Commission for Migrants and Itinerant People, calling for the veto of the bill.
?In the case of the seafarers, prior to sailing they are already enrolled by their employers in a comprehensive insurance policy, together with the vessels they work in. In the final version of the amendatory law, the proposed insurance is extended to seafarers. However, the benefits are far inferior to those enjoyed by seafarers under the current insurance scheme,? according to their letter to the President, a copy of which was provided media outfits.
Calling the law anti-migrant worker, the groups said it would serve only the interests of recruiters and insurance companies and related lobby groups.
They particularly opposed Section 37-A or the compulsory worker?s insurance coverage. Contrary to its intention to provide insurance to all overseas Filipino workers, the provision would only benefit more than a quarter (26.6 percent) of all deployed OFWs as it covers only those who go through a recruitment agency.
?It excludes the bulk of Filipino workers composed of re-hires, name hires, direct hires, and government-to- government hires because the proposal cannot be implemented on them simply because recruiters are NOT involved in the contracting of their jobs,? said the letter.
The various groups are set to hold a rally Monday, March 8, to urge the President to veto the bill.
