Is an overseas employment certificate really needed?

Prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) should not be required to get a departing clearance validation from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), a news portal said on Tuesday. In an article, the Philippine Online Chronicles said the new requirement makes it “more difficult" for the migrant workers — who have buoyed the country’s economy — to leave the country. In March, the POEA announced that all departing contract workers need to secure an overseas employment certificate (OEC) to help ensure “proper documentation and protection" of OFWs. The news portal even described the OEC, priced at P100 per OFW, as a “bunch of hogwash." “Out of the thousands of contract workers, how many illegally recruited workers were prevented from actually leaving the country?" it said. It stressed the OEC was an “additional burden" to departing Filipino workers, as the Philippine government is known for its “slow" processing of documents or public records. “Given the immensely long lines at the POEA offices and how notoriously inefficient the staff workers are, this is just another burden for the workers to carry," the news portal said. “It is unlikely that the entire thing can be processed in one day," it added. It suggested that the government resorted to issuing OECs as a way “to offset the loss of tax collected [from OFWs]." Protection of workers However, the POEA said the revenues from the OEC would be for the protection of workers. POEA administrator Carlos Cao Jr. said, “With the validation system in place, the agency is able to check on workers carrying tampered or fake travel documents." The news portal, however, countered that the OEC “seems more like another ingenious way of further milking OFW workers who [have] already worked to the too much." Unconstitutional According to Ambassador Roberto Tiglao, there’s a strong possibility that such a requirement is unconstitutional. Tiglao said every Filipino has a constitutional right to travel, referring to Article 3, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution. The news portal is thus calling on the Aquino administration to seriously “look into the matter and reconsider it. Rather than making things more complicated, why not find ways to streamline the process and cut the red tape?" It pointed out: “Rather than coming up with more documentation and more fees, shouldn’t the government try to find ways to make things easier for Filipino workers headed abroad?" The news site said the Philippine government is alienating and upsetting the modern day heroes — “the very people who are currently pumping the economy with much needed dollar remittances." — VVP, GMA News