Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Volume 3,  Number 23              July 13 - 19, 2003            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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MIGRANT WATCH

HK Migrants Protest: P3-B Medicare Fund Transfer an Election Gimmick?

Hong Kong-based OFWs are angry that their P3-billion Medicare fund handled by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has been transferred to PhilHealth without Malacañang bothering to consult them. Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas is being asked to explain what migrant groups said is an obvious anomaly.

By Bulatlat.com  

Teresa Masculino, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Iloilo, central Philippines went to the office of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) last June 29. Her daughter was sick with dengue and she needed money to bring her to the hospital. She had come to claim Medicare benefits.

But she did not get the OWWA form she was supposed to be given. Instead, she was given a PhilHealth form.

“Anomaly”

Masculino is one of the victims of the transfer of the OWWA Medicare funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), which Hong Kong-based migrant groups have called an “anomaly.”

The Medicare fund is composed of contributions from the OFWs themselves.

In a statement dated June 27, the Migrante Sectoral Party-Hong Kong chapter (MSP-HK) challenged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to “face the OFWs and explain the anomalous transfer of the OWWA Medicare fund.”

Filipino workers in Hong Kong sees President 
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as health threat  

According to Dolores Balladeres, MSP-HK spokesperson, “government faces responsibility in disclosing the full details of the transfer” since Executive Order 182 was signed by President Macapagal-Arroyo.

EO 182 directs the OWWA to transfer the P3-billion Medicare funds to PhilHealth. President Macapagal-Arroyo signed it last Feb. 14, but according to the MSP-HK, migrant groups received a copy of the said executive order only last month. Furthermore, according to Balladeres, they were not consulted on the matter and the transfer, she said, was done without taking their protests into consideration. Migrant groups had been vehemently opposed to the fund transfer.

Balladeres called on Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, who also chairs the OWWA Board of Trustees, to explain why the OFWs were not consulted on the fund transfer. “Why is there still a need for a Board of Trustees if the members were not trusted to be informed or consulted on matters that concern them?” Balladeres asked.

The United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-HK) expressed the same views in a Special Leaders’ Forum with PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Francisco Duque III at the Philippine Consulate General on July 6. Duque had gone to Hong Kong to meet with OFW groups there and explain the supposed benefits of the OWWA Medicare fund transfer.

Unifil-HK chair Connie Bragas-Regalado said in the forum: “The OFW Medicare Fund was tossed around by the Philippine government even without the expressed approval of the OFWs who own the fund. In fact, the lone representative of the millions of land-based OFWs who has been consistent in her disagreement with the said transfer, was shunned by the rest of the bureaucrats in the OWWA Board of Trustees.”

Duque admitted there had been an “oversight” in the consultation and decision-making processes. He however did not dwell long on this subject and turned the discussion to the alleged benefits that could arise from the fund transfer.

But Regalado argued, “Transferring of the OFW Medicare Fund to PhilHealth was the way of the government to relieve itself of its responsibility to provide better services to OFWs. If they are so concerned with OWWA services, then improve the services of the OWWA.”

Duque said EO 182 had been put on hold for the time being. However, Regalado said, “Do not take us for fools. We know how eager the President is in moving the said fund to PhilHealth.”

For 2004?

There have been reports that Duque wrote to President Macapagal-Arroyo last Nov. 22 saying that the fund transfer “is significant in the 2004 elections.”

Balladares smells something fishy in this. “What is the connection between transferring the OWWA Medicare funds to the 2004 elections?” she asked. “Has PhilHealth bribed President Arroyo in exchange for support to her candidacy?”

Unifil-HK demanded an explanation of this from Duque in the Forum. Duque, however, refused to comment on the issue, saying that it was “moot and academic.” Pressed further, Duque said that he merely meant it would create a “good image for the government.”

This irked Regalado. “Such a lousy excuse for a blatant political statement. Now that news of Arroyo’s bid for the presidency on 2004 is gaining grounds, we fear that the OFW Medicare Fund that came from our toil will be used for self-serving political purposes,” she said. Bulatlat.com

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