HK group hits OWWA chief on 'callous' remarks

A Hong Kong-based Filipino workers group on Thursday criticized Administrator Marianito Roque of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for making what it considered as “callous" remarks on the murder of an OFW in Canada. “Instead of showing concern for Jocelyn Dulnuan, murdered on Oct 1, Roque used the victim’s death to castigate OFWs who failed to pay their dues to OWWA," said Dolores Balladares, chair of the United Filipinos - Hong Kong (Unifil – HK). The HK group asked Roque to make a public apology to Dulnuan’s family for his insensitive remarks, which the group sees as OWWA’s justification for not providing financial assistance for the repatriation of the victim’s remains. On Oct 9, GMANews.TV quoted Roque as reminding OFWs to pay their membership dues, saying, “We never know what could happen to us while working abroad," noting the case of 27-year-old Dulnuan. “Roque even wrongly depicted Dulnuan as undocumented worker for her failure to pay her dues to OWWA even if she has a legal employment contract in Canada," Balladares said. Roque’s remark also gave Balladares a chance to lash at the “loopholes" in the OWWA Omnibus Policies which, she claimed, “was secretly approved by the agency’s board of trustees on Sept 19, 2003." Under its policies, OWWA will only help repatriate OFWs who are victims of natural calamities, epidemics and wars. The rule stems from Section 6 of Article VIII of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (RA 8042). “But government response to such situations, particularly the Lebanon War in July and August 2006, was pathetic to say the least," she said. The OWWA failed to provide adequate help to some 30,000 Filipinos trapped in that war. Worse, she said, only 25 percent of the money used to repatriate (eventually) some 4,000 from Lebanon came from the Philippine government. Balladares dared the OWWA to account for the US$293,500 (P 12,972,700) fund releases for the Philippine Middle East Preparedness Team in the US-Iraq war in 2003. She claimed that no evacuation actually happened during that time and there was never an audit for those funds. The group called on the congressional committee on overseas workers affairs and the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the implementation of the Omnibus Policies of OWWA. - Luis Gorgonio, GMNews.TV