Migrante opposes mandatory SSS coverage of OFWs

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s endorsement for mandatory Social Security System coverage of overseas Filipino workers is just "another extortion scheme" aimed at OFWs, a Hong Kong-based Filipino group said Thursday. “The unbelievable greed of the Arroyo administration for the money of OFWs is again shown by its effort to corner our earnings through the SSS coverage," said Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK) in a press statement. She said that Arroyo is not yet contented with the “extortion" schemes that are already in place, squeezing OFWs dry of their hard-earned income. The newly-imposed deployment guidelines exact from OFWs additional fees for retraining and other requirements. There is the membership fee for the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. Add to these the rising value of the peso that continues to erode dollar remittances, Balladares cited. According to the group, the expanded SSS coverage proposal is another item on the list of moneymaking schemes of the administration. At the 50th anniversary celebration of the SSS on September 4, President Arroyo endorsed the mandatory pension program coverage of all OFWS "I encourage your strategic plans to expand your membership through mandatory coverage of all OFWs, especially seafarers and amend the SSS Charter, particularly to institutionalize actuarial standards and formulas," the President said. At present, SSS coverage for OFWs is on a voluntary basis. Unifil-Migrante-HK vows to oppose the SSS move by setting up a global movement against policies that make OFWs “milking cows" of the Arroyo administration. - Luis Gorgonio, GMANews.TV