Manila: A lawmaker was forced to retreat on the defensive on Wednesday amid opposition from overseas Filipino workers over his proposal to compel them to show proof that they are sending support to their families in the Philippines.
Representative Roy Seneres of the OFW Family partylist, said the reason behind his proposal to force Filipino migrant workers to provide “proof of remittance,” is to protect the welfare of their families.
Seneres’ House Bill 3576 had been a subject of controversy after OFWs said the measure was unnecessary and was just an exaction ploy by the government from Filipino workers.
The migrant workers group, Migrante International even, went as far as branding the proposal as a “forced remittance” decree.
But Seneres clarified that the matter on showing proof of remittance would be limited to OFWs who are facing a no-support complaint from his or her family.
Clarification
“Again, I am clarifying that provisions of HB 3576 will not be enforced on all OFWs. It will be on a case-to-case basis. Not all OFWs will have to show proof of remittance, only those who are the subject of a ‘verified complaint’ from their family of being remised in his obligation to support them,” he said.
Seneres said that based on his proposal, before a complaint of non-support against an OFW can be a subject for sanctions, it would have to go several processes of verification.
Under the proposal, ambassadors, consuls general, chiefs of mission or charge d’ affaires would be vested with authority to withhold renewal or approval of passport of erring OFWs.
Seneres said they had been receiving numerous complaints that some OFWs breadwinners had already stopped sending money to their families, thus forcing their children to stop schooling. Lawyer George Terrado, Seneres’ chief of staff, told Gulf News in an interview on Wednesday that Filipinos would be fully consulted once the legislative mill starts acting on HB 3576.
“Public hearings would be conducted first, all parties would be heard first as it undergoes scrutiny by the plenary,” Terrado said.
Terrado said the provisions of the HB 3576 on compelling OFWs to send money to their families is rooted on the provisions of the Family Code of the Philippines.
