REPUBLIC Act (RA) 8042, otherwise known as the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995”, provided for numerous welfare schemes for our overseas heroes, the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Among these schemes include the various measures implemented for the prevention and punishment of illegal recruitment. This law also provided for free legal assistance for victims of illegal recruitment and for the creation of a Legal Assistance Fund (Section 25). Its provisions also mandated the establishment of the Emergency Repatriation Fund (Section 15), the Migrant Workers Loan Guarantee Fund (Section 21) and the Congressional Migrant Workers Scholarship Fund (Section 37).
However, despite the existence of these indispensible measures, the law has proved insufficient in providing adequate protection. Thus, on July 27, 2009, RA 10022 was enacted, inserting Section 37-A in RA 8042, which provided for the “Compulsory Insurance Coverage for Agency-Hired Workers”.
Under Section 37-A, “(i)n addition to the performance bond to be filed by the recruitment/manning agency under Section 10, each migrant worker deployed by a recruitment/manning agency shall be covered by a compulsory insurance policy which shall be secured at no cost to the said worker. Such insurance policy shall be effective for the duration of the migrant worker’s employment x x x.”
Every migrant worker shall be covered for: a) accidental death (with a minimum survivor’s benefit of $15,000); b) natural death (with a minimum survivor’s benefit of $10,000); c) permanent total disablement (with a minimum of $7,500 disability benefit); d) repatriation cost of the worker when the employment is terminated without any valid cause; e) subsistence allowance benefit (with a minimum of $100 per month for a maximum of six months for a migrant worker who is involved in a case or litigation for the protection of his/her rights in the receiving country; and f) money claims arising from employer’s liability.
In addition, the insurance policy shall also provide for: g) compassionate visit (where the insurance company shall pay for the transportation cost of the family member or requested individual to the major airport closest to the place of hospitalization of the worker); h) medical evacuation; and i) medical repatriation.
On July 8, 2010, the Omnibus Rules and Regulations Implementing the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, as Amended by RA 10022, was signed by the heads of the five government agencies involved, which include the Insurance Commission. Rule XIV thereof created an Inter-Agency Committee that included the Insurance Commission (IC) “to implement a shared government information system for migration.” Rule XVI deals with the compulsory insurance for “agency-hired workers”.
Under Section 5 of Rule XVI, “the recruitment/agency shall have the right to choose from any of the qualified insurance providers the company that will insure the migrant worker that it will deploy. After procuring such insurance policy, the recruitment/manning agency shall provide an authenticated copy thereof to the migrant worker. It shall then submit the certificate of insurance coverage of the migrant worker to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as a requirement for the issuance of Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) to the migrant worker. In the case of seafarers who are insured under policies issued by foreign insurance companies, the POEA shall accept certificates or other proofs of cover from recruitment/manning agencies: Provided, that the minimum coverage under subparagraphs (a) to (i) are included therein. For this purpose, foreign insurance companies shall include entities providing indemnity cover to the vessel.” Thus, without the insurance coverage, the OEC cannot be issued to the migrant worker.
Under Section 15 of Rule XVI, the IC, “as the lead agency, shall, together with Department of Labor and Employment, National Labor Relations Commission and POEA, in consultation with the recruitment/manning agencies and legitimate non-government organizations advocating the rights and welfare of OFWs, issue the necessary implementing rules and regulations, including a) qualifications of participating insurers, b) accreditation of insurers, c) uniform standard policy format, d) premium rates, e) benefits, f) underwriting guidelines, and others.”
The POEA issued Memorandum Circular 9, dated October 21, 2010, clarifying that all agency-hired OFWs, whether land-based or sea-based, shall be covered by the compulsory insurance. Agency-hired OFWs are those hired through POEA, licensed land-based recruitment or manning agencies. As provided by this circular, it is the recruitment/manning agencies or the foreign principal/employer who shall pay the cost of the insurance coverage.
Recently, there have been clamors in Congress to include “war risks” among the coverage of the compulsory insurance. House Bill 4924, for example, calls for the inclusion of war risk, including “invasion, insurrection, revolution, military coup and terrorism” among the covered risks.
On March 7, 2011, the IC issued Circular Letter 10-2011 (modifying Circular Letter 35-2010 dated December 7, 2010). Through this circular, “the determination of premium rate” is left “to the sound business decision of the insurance providers based on prudent underwriting principles and practices.” However, the circular also decreed the strict observance of “the reserve requirements from which the claims fund shall be drawn” and mandated that the minimum reserves computation shall be strictly implemented.
In 2013 the remittances of the Filipinos working overseas had amounted to $22.97 billion and are expected to reach up to $24 billion for the year 2014. For these people who have given so much of themselves for the sake of providing for their family and who have become one of the strongest pillars of our country’s economy, it is only right for the national government to give its utmost best to protect them, their families and their interests. Impediments continue to challenge the government’s ability to fulfill its role, but by upholding the law, surely, nothing is impossible.
****
Dennis B. Funa is presently the Deputy Insurance Commissioner for Legal Services of the Insurance Commission. E-mail: dennisfuna@yahoo.com
1 comment
Is this even implemented? I took off almost two years ago and I cannot recall getting insurance coverage as OFW.