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Consulate to beef up OWWA campaign
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Posted on Oct 20 2006
The Philippine Consulate General, in cooperation with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, will soon launch an information campaign on the benefits of being an OWWA member.
OWWA welfare officer Leonor Mabagal said the three offices would exert extra efforts to increase awareness among overseas Filipino workers in the CNMI about their rights and privileges in maintaining their OWWA membership status. They will visit villages around the CNMI and talk to the Filipino workers and some of their employers.
Mabagal said they want to undertake this project due to some incidents where some Filipino workers are involved in accidents or get sick but they couldn’t be officially helped by OWWA because they are no longer members, or they did not renew their membership.
In the CNMI, more than 80 percent of Filipino nonresident workers are active OWWA members but Mabagal said there are still some who have opted out or have neglected renewing their membership in the OWWA program despite the benefits they could get.
“There are several benefits that they can get by renewing their membership with us [OWWA],” she said, including insurance benefits if they get involved in an accident while on the job.
Last April, a Filipino contract worker was killed at a drainage construction site after being pinned by a car on Beach Road in Chalan Kanoa. He was not a member of OWWA, resulting in his family being unable to avail of at least $4,000 in insurance benefits.
Mabagal said there are cases where some OFWs are in dire need of financial assistance and repatriation due to undisclosed reasons; however, these Filipinos are non-members, so any help that could be given them is very limited.
“I would like to encourage all OFWs to update their membership and their contribution to our office,” she said.
