PASEI’s PROPOSALS TO THE 2ND MEDIUM TERM
COMPREHENSIVE EMPLOYMENT PLAN
2005 – 2010

GOAL: To help the National Government in its effort to provide
gainful employment for our citizens through the creation of
One (1) Million to Two (2) Million jobs for qualified Filipinos
desiring to work overseas.

STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE OVERSEAS EMPLOYMENT

> Amend Certain Provision of R.A. 8042 The Migrant and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995:

• Sec. 2 (c).Promote aggressively overseas employment.
• Sec. 2 (e).Give OCWs well-defined responsibilities and obligations.
• Sec. 2 (h).Recognize the positive contributions of the Overseas Employment Service Providers (OESPs).
• Sec. 2 (i).Provide concrete incentives to OEPs.
• Sec. 6. Differentiate the licensees from the non-licensees by redefining illegal recruitment under      Sec. 6 of R.A. 8042 to refer to illegal acts committed by non-licensees only.

Enhance Protective Mechanisms of OCWs:

• Make repatration, life, accident insurance mandatory.
• Adopt and implement the industry initiated Workers Welfare Enhancement Program (WWEP) to answer for the foreign employer’s liability instead of the joint and solidary liability being paid by the Overseas Employment Providers (OEPs) to ensure entitlements are received by the OCWs.
• Create a Subsistence Allowance Insurance for workers who are filing their complaints on-site against their foreign employers.
• Make training for vulnerable sectors (Domestics and Households workers) mandatory.
• DFA/POEA/DOLE, must work for Bilateral Labor Agreements (BLAs) with host countries of our OCWs.
• POEA/DOLE must support and encourage the private sector to intensify its association to association relationship, responsibilities and agreements with its foreign counterpart to ensure workers protection and welfare.
• Accredit immediately the foreign manpower intermediaries to make them responsible for our workers recruited through them.
• Train more translators and assign them where there is a concentration of Filipino OCWs to handle conciliation cases on site.
• Increase the number of Labor Attaches and Welfare Officers/Centers.
• Mandatory renewal of OWWA Membership and PHILHEALTH Medicare Coverage.
• Mandatory membership of OCWs to PAG-IBIG and to SSS.
• Mandotory Enrollment of OCWs to the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) Program.
• Compulsory and immediate enrollment to PhilHealth based on the years of employment prior to POEA processing.

Intensify the Anti-Illegal Recruitment Campaign:

• Mandatory and immediate implementation of the Pre-Employment Orientation Seminar (PEOS) to be conducted by Government through the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and qualified NGOs.
• Allow the trainors of the Overseas Employment Providers to be occasional invited speakers in these PEOS as partners.

> POEA must

• Deregulate its recruitment activities as mandated by Sec. 29 of R.A. 8042 and concentrate on organizing marketing missions for the industry, do market researches and join bilateral labor negotiations with the DFA/OUMWA.
• NOT COMPETE with the ligitimate Overseas Employment Providers for overseas jobs.
• Phase out its regulatory functions as mandated by Sec. 30 of R.A. 8042 and allow the industry to self-regulate once the law has been rationalized.
• Come out publicly with its deregulation plans.
• Implement the Full Disclosure Policy.
• Implement the accreditation procedures of Foreign Principals/Brokers with joint liability and shared responsibilities.
• In partnership with the associations of Overseas Employment Providers:
  • Conduct more jobs fair in the provinces.
  • Concentrate on the Pre-Employment Orientation Seminars (PEOS) in tandem with the NGOs and the Public Employment Service Office (PESO).
• Expand its labor market research capability.
• Expand/re-train its staff and work for a bigger operating budget once POEA deregulates.

Rationalize the mode of settling disputes in the NLRC and take into consideration the Labor and Social Laws of the host countries:

Encourage stakeholders to submit all labor-related disputes to Mediation or Conciliation or Voluntary Arbitration or through other modes of available Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to expedite resolution of complaints.

Accelerate National Economic Recovery by:

• Taxing overseas income not remitted through the normal  banking channels or official registered remittance companies or encourage OCWs to pay a fix-income tax based on their salary bracket.
• Campaigning, in partnership with the NGOs, for the reduction of remittance fees being charged by banks and other remittance service providers.
• Organizing entrepreneurial seminars and trainings for spouses left behind by the OCWs.
• Opening lending facilities for those wanting to go abroad and for those wanting to put up businesses.
• Creating a mandatory investment program/retirement fund for Filipino OCWs.
• Partnering with the private sector and lead government agencies in the planning and implementation of realistic  re-integration programs.
• Operationalizing the Industry Oversight Committee mandated by Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during the 2004 Overseas Employment Summit.