My fellow countrymen,

A petition recently circulated among members of the Filipino Community in Brunei raised labor and consular issues, which are of major concern to the Philippine Embassy. I wish to clarify them for the benefit of our fellow Filipinos in Brunei Darussalam.

1. A review of the practice of making (i.e., forcing) OFWs to get overseas exit clearance (OEC) whenever they visit the Philippines. It is prayed that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), POEA and OWWA:

• Clarify the rationale behind the OEC as to why it is being imposed on vacationing OFWs;

• Justify what and how much charges are involved;

• Reveal who determines the fees, and

• Enlighten us at to where the collected money goes (has it ever been audited?).

Rationale for the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC)

The OEC serves as an exit clearance for OFWs and is in the form of an E-Receipt (electronic receipt) that certifies to the regularity of a worker’s recruitment and documentation.

The OEC also serves as the worker’s guarantee that he/she is covered by government protection and benefits.

All Filipino nationals going out of the country pay travel tax (P1,620.00) and airport terminal fee (P750.00).

By contrast, OFWs pay only B$4.00 (Php100.00) to obtain an exemption from travel tax and airport terminal fee through an OEC.

a. Where Presented

The OEC is presented at the POEA Labor Assistance Center (LAC), terminal, airline, and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) counters at the airport prior to departure.

b. How Much (Charges)

B$4.00 (Php100.00).

c. Who determines the fees

Concerned executive government body (POEA and OWWA governing board)

d. Where the collected money goes? (has it ever been audited)

Collections are deposited in a depository bank in Brunei daily, after which it is transferred electronically to a trust account under the supervision of the POEA.

These funds are audited on a regular basis.

2. OWWA Membership which is supposed to be voluntary on the part of the OFWs but is being used as a pre-requisite to the issuance of the OEC

OWWA membership is voluntary and is not a pre-requisite to the issuance of an OEC.

Workers are encouraged to either avail of OWWA membership or renew their membership, to guard against unforeseen events, i.e. mishaps (sudden death or injury to the worker), calamities (typhoons and other natural disasters in the Philippines affecting the worker’s families).

As a matter of procedure, if a worker declines to become a member or no longer wishes to continue membership, said worker is requested to prepare and submit a simple handwritten waiver of membership.

This procedure is being implemented to absolve POLO and OWWA officials of any blame, should workers find themselves in situations where they want to avail of OWWA benefits but cannot because of their failure to obtain/renew their OWWA membership. It is during such situations when workers regret their decision not to obtain/renew their OWWA membership and start blaming labor officials.

3. The seemingly high costs of consular services at the Philippine Embassy here in Brunei and why no proper, official receipts are issued for certain fees collected (only cash register printouts are given).

On the seemingly high cost of consular services at the Philippine Embassy in Brunei

The use of the word “seemingly” reveals a lot of uncertainty on the part of those raising this issue, which may be attributed largely to an erroneous perception.

• First, consular fees among all Foreign Service Posts are standardized by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Fees in the local currency may have marginal differences; this is due largely to the foreign exchange rate and other peculiar factors in the specific area where the Embassy/Consulate is located.

• Second, the current consular fees imposed by the Philippine Embassy in Brunei and in all other Philippine Foreign Service Posts are based on a Department Order dating back to 2000.

Since 2000, the Philippine Embassy has made only 2 adjustments in consular fees, the last time in 2010 following the implementation of the e-Passport program.

Adjustments in consular fees are not based on a whim or fancy. Nor can they be changed daily, depending on, say the movement of global oil prices. There are numerous factors to consider when implementing changes in consular fees.

The Philippine Embassy is constantly monitoring conditions in Brunei and will make the necessary recommendations concerning consular fees at the appropriate time. Ultimately, it is the Department of Foreign Affairs that will have the final decision regarding such matters.

On allegations that no proper official receipts are issued for certain fees collected (only cash registry printouts are given)

• First, I would like to clarify that the Philippine Embassy issues proper receipts for all consular services rendered. Basic regulations require that an official receipt be issued for every consular service rendered by the Philippine Embassy.

• Second, our Collecting Officer issues a cash registry printout detailing the service/s rendered by the Philippine Embassy. This printout also serves as the official receipt. This is a practice followed in other Philippine Foreign Service Posts.

Incidentally, a lot of commercial establishments in the Philippines also issue the same kind of official receipts (e.g. Mercury Drug Store, Jollibee, etc.). I am therefore surprised that certain individuals have raised this issue, as it appears that they are unfamiliar with receipts issued in the Philippines.

• Third, DFA regulations state that all Foreign Service Posts with validating machines are instructed to use only 1 official receipt (FA Form No. 89) in acknowledging all consular, DOLE, POEA, BIR and other collections turned over by the Collecting Officer at the end of the day.

• And fourth, teams from the Commission on Audit (COA) – the Philippine agency empowered to audit all accounts pertaining to all government revenues and expenditures/uses of government resources and to prescribe accounting and auditing rules – visited and audited the Philippine Embassy in Brunei on August 2007 and then again on August 2009.

The COA teams never objected to the Philippine Embassy’s use of cash registry printouts as official receipts.

4. Why is it that no proper records were collected and kept on individual OFWs for so many years and then suddenly such records are supposed to be updated now to comply with a recently passed law? But then, the updating process requires submission of documents already submitted earlier for a costly contract “authentication exercise”. Also the update will again carry a fee still to be paid by the OFW! In this day and age of computers, this OFW database should have been in existence long ago and simply updated and maintained over the years. Why do OFWs have to pay for this exercise? It should be funded in the general appropriations.

There are records of properly documented individual OFWs at the POEA System. It may not be a perfect data base system but it does exist. The data base is, unfortunately, incomplete due to a thousand reasons. But there are on-going efforts to improve the system.

There are numerous instances when workers are not properly documented, through cracks in the system. I would like to cite a few examples. There are many workers who exited as tourists from the Philippines, entered via backdoor (Kota Kinabalu) and arrived in Brunei where they managed to find work. Even if they have worked in Brunei for many years, they would not have registered any employment contract with POEA. Therefore, the employment information on said workers cannot be found in the POEA database system. Situations/circumstances changed over the years and there is now a need to properly document these OFWs.

Furthermore, there are also many workers whose employment documents were reprocessed (i.e. contract substitution). While their employment contracts were registered with POEA, due to the above aforementioned reasons, their individual data/information is also incorrect. Therefore, their individual records need to be updated.

I would like to clarify that there is no additional updating procedure. The regular verification process of employment documents is in itself the updating process and not an “authentication process”. If information appearing on their present employment documents is consistent with the individual information appearing at the POEA data base system, then there is no need to update the same.

However, if an OFW’s employment record is not found in the POEA data base or information appearing therein is inconsistent with the current information of the worker, then there is a need to update the worker’s data.

5. An appeal to review and repeal many predatory policies and practices of POEA and OWWA that burdens OFWs who suffer such practices in silence (and anger!) mistakenly believing that the Government, through the abovementioned agencies, can do what it pleases and that dissent will result in “getting into unnecessary trouble” so the majority simply pay in their eagerness to come home.

RA 10022 has just been passed into law. There should be enough reasonable time given to determine whether the goals and objectives contained in the law are attainable. But relevant points raised in the petition may useful inputs to amendments of RA 10022 in the future.

6. These issues are talked about in local OFW circles and lots of anger and resentment have been aired but no official complaint has been submitted so far. These practices are in existence for such a long time that many billions of pesos must have been collected over more than two decades. OWWA funds especially are supposed to be for the benefit and welfare of OFWs but is it really being used that way? The burning question is “where is the money and who are benefitting from it?” Is it not against the charter of the OWWA to use the funds for other purposes? Is the President allowed to divert that money in contravention of the said charter?

I have observed that OFWs have raised this issue informally numerous times, and I recognize the need to have this issue explained clearly to them by Embassy officials.

For this purpose, I have instructed POLO-Brunei PE and OWWA-Brunei PE to undertake an information dissemination campaign among Filipino Community Organizations and in companies that employ many Filipinos. The Embassy has also started engaging the assistance of local recruitment agencies for information dissemination among the household service workers.

With respect to the funds, I would like to note that the national papers carried articles about the conduct of special audit on the OWWA funds.

The Philippine Embassy wishes to assure every Filipino worker that their interests are first and foremost in our priorities. As members of the executive branch of the government, we are the implementers of policies and laws formulated by our legislators. Under my leadership, the Philippine Embassy is forever looking at ways and means to improve processes, systems as well as conduct information dissemination campaigns to inform and educate OFWs and their families of the proper implementation of our laws and regulations.

I hope that this letter clarifies the numerous queries raised by the members of the Filipino Community in Brunei Darussalam.

NESTOR Z. OCHOA

Ambassador