P1.1 billion in OWWA funds eyed for OFW hospital wards

By Nora O. Gamolo

Overseas Filipino workers may be the modern heroes of Philippine society, but their contributions do not guarantee they will be given better treatment anytime.

In fact, they and their families find themselves at the losing end in the health care delivery system.

Here's one remedy resurrected anew by a legislator in the Philippine House of Representatives.

To cover the hospitalization of ailing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their dependents, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo has proposed to set aside some P1.1 billion, to be allocated out of a state-managed trust fund.

A similar bill was earlier filed in both houses of the last Congress, but never saw the light of day.

Romulo has filed a bill seeking to require every public hospital to establish a separate and exclusive ward for OFWs and their dependents that need medical care.

The bill mandates all government hospitals to increase their existing bed capacity by five percent, or by five beds for every 100 beds.

The additional beds shall constitute the special ward for OFWs and their dependents. They would be entitled to admission to the ward upon presentation of a valid ID card issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

To fully finance the extra hospital wards, Romulo is seeking the allotment of 10 percent of the trust fund supervised by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

"This should put a portion of the trust fund to highly beneficial use for our OFWs and their dependents," said Romulo, vice chairman of the House committee on overseas workers affairs in the previous Congress.

Over the years, OWWA-administered trust fund for OFWs has ballooned to an estimated P11.5 billion.

OFWs have accused the Arroyo government to have wrongfully used the fund for unintended purposes that serve its political ends.

Every OFW contributes $25 or about P1,157 every two years to the fund. They have consistently complained they are not benefiting from it.

At present, the fund provides disability and life insurance coverage to some 1.2 million OFWs who are OWWA members.

The fund also extends family welfare benefits, and supports the education, training and reintegration of returning OFWs.

It likewise provides a scholarship program for the children of OFWs, and finances the emergency repatriation of distressed migrant workers.

Some 3,000 Filipinos leave the country every day to work overseas.

OFWs sent home a total of $7.438 billion from January to May, 2010, up by $458 million or 6.5 percent, compared to the $6.980 billion they remitted in the same five-month period in 2009.