SENATE Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, citing the urgency to rescue distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFW) affected by the Covid pandemic abroad, pressed the Duterte administration to tap a P13-billion contingent fund intended for the creation of new departments.
Drilon deplored that the government was inclined to give funding priority to bloat the bureaucracy with new departments, even as the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) was “crying out for help to bring home Filipino workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
At a hearing by the Senate labor committee chaired by Sen. Joel Villanueva on Thursday, Drilon supported OWWA chief Hans Cacdac’s firm position that the agency has no plans to tap into its trust fund, as this was built up primarily by migrant workers’ money for safekeeping.
Cacdac acknowledged the “big help” that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has so far given OWWA the past year as it worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in repatriating more than 300,000 OFWs, both those distressed and those simply terminated as employers closed down in the Covid-induced lockdowns.
However, Cacdac said, they are pressing DBM to release more funds as the agency is expected to deal with more repatriations this year—an estimated half a million workers more.
The senator stressed that “as a matter of policy, the national government, through the General Appropriations Act, should answer [for] the repatriation program, because this is a small favor that we can do for all the contributions of our OFWs. We should provide in the budget funds for the repatriation of OFWs,” he added.
He likened the budgetary support for OWWA to the regular multimillion Assistance to Nationals (ATN) fund tucked into the DFA’s annual budget.
Drilon stressed that the OWWA funds should never be “touched for this purpose,” calling it “a slippery slope” that will render the OFWs’ contributions vulnerable to political and fiscal misuse: “where will we use the fund next?”
He deplored the basis for the administration’s hesitancy to tap the multibillion-peso contingent fund for the urgently needed OFW repatriation program, even as the contingent fund was “intended as a source of fund in case existing agency funds are not sufficient.”
That the hesitance was also traced to plans to fund the creation of new departments such as the proposed Department of Overseas Filipinos was denounced by Drilon, saying: “That is not a very sound policy. We would prioritize first the creation of new departments and their funding rather than allocate the fund necessary to bring home our kababayans,” Drilon said, airing his lament at a Senate hearing on the creation of the Department of Overseas Filipinos.
Moreover, Drilon recalled that the OWWA had already requested the budget department for a budgetary augmentation of P9.8 billion to cover the repatriation of around 500,000 more OFWs, which included quarantine expenses, transport, and lodging expenses. He recalled Cacdac saying their budget would only last up to April or May this year.
Instead of using the trust fund of OWWA, the Duterte administration should authorize the use of the contingent fund to repatriate around 500,000 returning OFWs, adding that it “will leave around 500,000 OFWs stranded in various parts of the world if we do not provide funding for their repatriation.”
Drilon quoted Sen. Nancy Binay’s lament: “may P13 bilyon para sa DOFIL, pero walang budget sa repatriation. That is indeed unacceptable and morally wrong.” He prodded Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles to recommend sourcing out the much-needed P9.8 billion from the contingent fund, recalling that Nograles responded that he still has to “discuss this with the pertinent departments.”
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
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