061307: DBP, Smart in P1-B job program for OFWs

By Lenie Lectura

Reporter

STATE-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has set up a P1-billion livelihood facility to benefit overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in partnership with Smart Communications Inc. DBP president and chief executive officer Reynaldo David said the livelihood program,  "DBP-Smart OFW  I-net Negosyo—Negosyo Mo, Taya Ko," will provide reintegration and entrepreneurship opportunities for OFWs via bank financing of Smart's mini-Internet café package, the Smart Bro Computer Station. "Through the program, OFWs will be able to invest their hard-earned money in a potentially lucrative business that will prepare them for their eventual retirement. Their beneficiaries back home will also become more self-sufficient with the additional income from the business, aside from the monthly remittance," he added. The "DBP-Smart OFW I-net Negosyo— Negosyo Mo, Taya Ko" has been premarketed in the first week of May in Dubai, and a number of OFWs have already signed up for the program. Danilo Mojica, Smart head for Wireless Consumer Division, said the Smart Bro Computer Station package is very affordable for start-up entrepreneurs. "OFWs and their beneficiaries can start their own one-PC mini-Internet rental shop. A bonus is an e-loading business, which we have conveniently bundled with this livelihood package. Beneficiaries will also be able to use the Internet to keep in touch with their loved ones abroad more often. We have subsidized the rate to encourage our OFWs to become entrepreneurs. Eventually, they can increase the number of PCs, if they wish to expand the business," said Mojica. The Smart Bro Computer Station package includes one brand-new top-of-the-line desktop computer with a one-year limited warranty on the hardware, licensed Microsoft Operating System, one-year unlimited Smart Bro wireless broadband Internet connection, streamers and flyers to promote the Internet rental service, and a cellular phone bundled with a retailer SIM with initial e-load value of P500 for e-loading business. The livelihood program is payable in 12 easy monthly installments which will be paid by the OFW himself from wherever he is worldwide through the DBP EC Remit program. The amount already includes the subscription to Smart Bro, affordable interest rates, and mortgage redemption insurance. Monthly payments may be coursed through DBP partner remittance and exchange companies. To qualify, an OFW must have at least one year of guaranteed work contract or a work visa that is valid for the next 12-month period. Other documents needed include POEA registration document and/or OWWA membership ID; photocopy of valid passport; and photocopy of valid work visa. The forms and documents should be submitted to the Negosyo coordinators or DBP overseas marketing representatives in the country where they are working. To apply for the loan package, OFWs may visit the DBP Remittance Center at the DBP head office in Makati City, or the bank's subsidiaries and tie-ups abroad. Smart has been providing wireless broadband Internet access nationwide through its subsidiary, Smart Broadband Inc. (SBI). As of end-March 2007, Smart Bro subscribers number more than 163,000. Early this year, Smart and DBP entered into a strategic partnership that will push for the use of mobile commerce in delivering financial services for small and medium enterprises, migrant workers, microfinance institutions and other sectors.   Under the partnership, DBP will use Smart's mobile commerce platform, the Smart Services Hub, in developing new remittance and financial services and products. The Smart Services Hub is Smart's global financial and telecommunications services hub model based on its award-winning Smart Money electronic financial services platform. Aside from mobile commerce applications for development financing, services for text-based remittances, mobile banking, payroll account management, mobile payments, e-wallet cards and text-based services are also in the works.

 

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/06132007/economy01.html

 

060107: PNB banks on more remittances

By Jun Vallecera

Reporter

THE Philippine National Bank has taken the opposite view to the prediction of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that the flow of remittances from overseas Filipino workers would soon slow down. PNB president Omar Byron Mier said they have prepared for an increase of more than 16 percent this year. The bank, which used to dominate the worker remittance business, expects to pull in between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion this year. “Our remittance business is doing well again.” Lending remains the PNB’s main income generator but the remittance business now lorded over by the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and the Bank of the Philippine Islands, is a close second, according to Mier. The government expects worker remittances to reach $14 billion this year or about 10 percent more than the $12.7 billion last year. In the first quarter alone, remittances already grew by 24 percent to $3.5 billion, the result of better and more numerous service providers luring OFWs with very competitive service charges. Mier said PNB’s share of $2.4 billion in remittances last year was 19 percent of aggregate remittance reported by the BSP. That expansion was aided in part by two new wholly owned remittance subsidiaries in Austria and Spain in addition to the opening of two more bank branches in Hong Kong. In April, PNB also opened two subsidiary branches in Paris, France, and in Barcelona, Spain, that brought the total number of PNB overseas offices to 106. Mier said this was the largest global network of branches and offices among local banks. This network is apart from remittance tie-ups that PNB has with such firms as the United Overseas Bank and the Development Bank of Singapore and its alliance with Mizuho Bank of Japan.

 

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0601&022007/headlines03.html

053107: Tax-OFWs plan rejected

NEDA SAYS FAMILIES OF MIGRANT WORKERS ALREADY HIT BY STRONG PESO

By Rommer M. Balaba

Reporter

THE government right now has no intention to tax the incomes derived by Filipinos working abroad, as suggested earlier by a group of economists and business experts, according to a senior official from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). “It is not within the planning horizon to tax the earnings overseas Filipino workers. Our so-called heroes of the economy do not deserve another burden,” Dennis M. Arroyo, Neda director for national planning policy, said in an interview. Taxing OFW incomes may further diminish the money received by their families,  Arroyo explained, with the continued strengthening of the local currency versus the dollar. “Besides they are already being hit by a strong peso,” he added. A study from De La Salle University raised the idea of taxing OFW remittances and the proceeds used for propping up the productivity vacuum created by the departure of Filipinos for overseas work. Written by Tereso Tullao, Michael Angelo Cortez and Edward See, the paper said taxing OFW incomes would compensate the country for productivity losses, which is especially true for migrants who attended government-funded state universities and colleges. Up to 1 million Filipino workers leave each year to join the up to 8.5 million other Filipinos currently in over 180 host countries on either a permanent, temporary or irregular basis. Aggregate remittances sent through formal channels reached $12.6 billion last year and are expected to top a record $13 billion this year. As of March, total remittances are up 24 percent to $3.5 billion. “OFW money is behind the strong consumption, retail trade and telecommunications, among other productive activities,” Arroyo said. And in lieu of any policy change on OFW remittances, Arroyo explained the government would rather pursue tax-related administrative reforms and push for the approval of tax bills such as the Simplified Net Income Tax Scheme as well the rationalization of tax incentives.

 

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/05312007/headlines01.html

 

053107: ING, PNB creating mutual fund for OFWs

May 31, 2007
Updated 03:49:32 (Mla time)
Doris Dumlao
Inquirer

Dutch banking giant ING and Philippine National Bank (PNB) have teamed up to create within this year a mutual fund for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with a size of up to $500 million.

The two banks recently signed a memorandum of agreement to contribute $15 million each in seed money to the mutual fund, to be called the ING International Filipino Mutual Fund, top bank officials said.

In an interview Wednesday, ING Bank Philippine country manager Manuel Salak said the mutual fund would be set up and registered in Ireland and would be marketed across Europe and Asia.

“Our target fund size is $200-$500 million,” Salak said.

A mutual fund is an investment entity that pools funds of unit holders for investment in various securities. The units or shares are redeemable by the fund on demand by the investor.

The value of the underlying assets of the fund -- such as equities and debt papers denominated in peso, dollars or any other currency -- influences the unit prices.

PNB president Omar Byron Mier said at the bank's annual meeting of stockholders on Tuesday that PNB had agreed to tap its overseas network to distribute the mutual fund.

Mier said the mutual fund would be “the first investment product of its kind that would allow overseas Filipinos to invest in.”

PNB treasurer Ramon Lim said the minimum participation in the planned mutual fund would be $100 million, and would likely be launched first in Hong Kong and then rolled over to other markets, subject to compliance with regulatory requirements.

He said the mutual fund would likely find a robust market in the Middle East, which has a large population of OFWs.

He said the $30 million seed money to be contributed by PNB and ING would be covered by a five-year lock-up period.

OFW remittances coursed through PNB, which has the largest overseas network among local banks, reached $2.4 billion in 2006, accounting for 19 percent of the total market.

To expand its OFW remittances business, PNB has established two wholly owned subsidiaries -- one in Austria and another in Spain -- and opened two more banking units in Hong Kong.

Last April, PNB opened two additional subsidiary branches in Paris and Barcelona, bringing the total number of its overseas offices to 106.

http://services.inquirer.net/express/07/05/31/html_output/xmlhtml/20070531-68746-xml.html

052907: Mirror on the Wall: Belittling the OFW: Can Neri be that rude?

Water will always seek its own level no matter how many dams you erect to contain or control its free float. This also holds true in looking for a scapegoat, such as the practice of government officials to escape blame for their poor performance. Such exactly happened in the case of the current strong peso. You can even blame the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for making the floating peso, in the words of Socio-economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, “uncomfortably strong,” but that’s the way it is in a “free economy” controlled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The OFWs, erstwhile called the new heroes of the Philippines for saving it from economic ruin, appear to be Neri’s new villains because the $24 billion that they regularly remit to their families back home is getting uncomfortable in his eyes. The apple of his eyes may probably be the export sector, which Neri now calls as the battered sector to defend it from the strong peso President Arroyo portrays. What can be more battered than the OFW sector whose members, men and women, are literally and physically battered, abused, raped and threatened by proposals from the religious sector and the Bureau of Internal Revenue that want the remittances of laborers taxed?   Neri of the export sector Neri, who comes from the export sector being a former executive of the Yulo-owned sugar companies and being an ex-employee of oil exporter Mobil Oil, had this curt reply to a newspaper reporter’s query on the sad plight of the OFWs and their families: “Well, they are not being taxed anyway, so that’s their consolation.” He seems to be unaware of the proposal of the BIR and of either De La Salle or Ateneo de Manila to tax the overseas incomes of Filipinos abroad, conveniently setting aside the clamor that religious schools and churches must likewise be taxed. To add insult to OFWs’ wounded pride, their remittances, according to Neri, “are getting higher anyway.” This was in reply to the same question of whether these overseas workers are also adversely affected by the “strong” peso.  “Remittances are increasing because there’s an upgrade in the quality of jobs,” he said, then appealed for understanding in the case of the commodity exporters:  “We have to help our exporters in terms of upgrading quality and better credit terms.”  That looks like a one-sided love affair in favor of Neri’s sector.   Uncomfortable peso No, Mr. Neri, the remittances are increasing not because of the quality of their jobs but because of their strong determination to continue sending their foreign exchange to loved ones despite the uncomfortable peso and despite the lack of jobs available to them in the Philippines. This public official should know that budgeting is a task that is almost an impossible job to accomplish when there’s no money coming from local employment. He knows that by heart, being a former budget secretary. The commodity export market needs peso-dollar protection from the government and their friends in the government, but protecting them at the expense of the labor export sector called the OFW is, to say the least, a rude example of how some people approach human dignity.   Arrest the peso or arrest them What Neri should do, together with his National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the assigned Cabinet cluster committees is to arrest the foreign currency and stock market manipulators—arrest meaning putting them in jail. They need no market corrections, sideways or otherwise. Correctional can also be the more appropriate terms for these recidivists. The export sector is saying that because of the strong peso, its peso earnings are getting smaller. Well, the same is true with the incomes of the OFWs but they are not asking Bangko Sentral and Neda to extend them preferential rates like the ones being suggested for the export sector. Everybody must suffer from the uncomfortably strong peso if that is what the market dictates. Let the peso rise or fall because that is the law of gravity, also known as the law of supply and demand. “In the long run, [a strong peso] will have an impact on export growth, especially for those with local content,” Neri said. “That’s unless we do it the way the Japanese did it: Keep on upgrading products so that even if they have to increase prices, their products are still marketable. We have to help our exporters in terms of upgrading quality and better credit terms.” Five years ago, Neri, then only 52, was appointed socioeconomic planning secretary. He said that although Mrs. Arroyo had backed his reform proposals, he worried they could still be hijacked by politically well-connected groups. Are his quotes still valid these days?   E-mail: raulbvalino@yahoo.com.ph.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/05292007/opinion03.html

043007: OFW inflows to hit $ 14.7 B this year

 

 

By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to remit $ 14.74 billion this year. The previous forecast was $ 14 billion. The BSP is currently reviewing its overall external account projections. BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said when the BSP revised the balance of payments (BOP) projection higher to $ 2 billion from $ 1.6 billion, the expected remittances were also changed. Of the $ 14.74 billion, about $ 700 million will pass through the non-bank channels. Guinigundo said non-banks’ share of OFW fund transfers is declining from $ 1.2 billion in 2006. Banks’ wider network, improved financial services to OFWs and their beneficiaries continue to encourage migrant workers to remit their hard-earned foreign exchange via the formal channels. Guinigundo said earlier that the banking sector’s share of total remitted funds from OFWs is advancing faster than anticipated. From $ 3 billion in 2005, the amount of transactions lost to banks is expected to come down lower than 0 million this year. The BSP include OFWs’ non-bank remittances in its accounting of the BOP under personal and transfer accounts. The approximate number is that 10-15 percent of these fund transfers go through the informal channels. For the first two months OFWs sent home $ 2.184 billion. The BSP has been encouraging OFWs to remit through banks, which is cheaper and safer than door-to-door or other informal channels. The BSP also intensified efforts to reduce the cost of remitting funds, which is a positive development for the banking system. The central bank recently issued a circular requiring banks and non-bank financial institutions to post the charges for their remittance services and products, including classification of costs. BSP said this is to "promote the efficient delivery of competitively-priced remittance services by banks and other remittance service providers." The disclosure requirement also provides OFWs and their beneficiary a more informed decision in bank selection. There are eight million OFWs remitting an average of $ 10 billion a year. To improve remittance flows, the BSP will continue to focus on five principles, namely: enhancing transparency and promoting competition in the remittance market to lower remittance charges; improving the country’s payments and settlement systems to facilitate faster, safer and more efficient transfer of funds to beneficiaries; improving access to financial services; encouraging OFWs and their families to increase savings and investments; and promoting advocacy programs to cultivate financial literacy among OFWs and their families. Right now, the BSP said several commercial banks already offer OFW-specialized investment products and services related to insurance, pension and real estate. These remittances have boosted the supply of foreign exchange helping stabilize the exchange rate, and have provided valuable support to output growth, particularly through strong personal consumption expenditures," BSP said. About 46 percent OFW dollars are remitted from the United States, compared with 12 percent from Asia and 15 percent from the Middle East.

 

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2007043092932.html

043007: Editorial: Overseas Filipino Investors

Editorial:

Overseas Filipino investors

So why not tap overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as a viable investment source?  That’s the proposal of Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions, who points out that the $12 billion to $14 billion annual remittances of OFWs through formal sources alone is much bigger than direct foreign investments, and therefore should be a rich source of funds for various entrepreneurial activities here at home. OFWs send money home to their families so they can have food on the table, send their children to school and put a roof over their heads. The highly skilled and the professionals who get considerably bigger pay than the domestic helpers or factory workers are able to save more. Thus, the national government need not look far for money to put up more SMEs especially in the countryside even as it continues to search for more foreign investments. With globalization, the Filipino diaspora is not likely to decrease, but to expand even more in the coming years. The key is educating the OFWs so they know where to invest their savings. And remittances by OFWs can be a viable investment source if they can be adequately informed about various investment choices and become financially literate. Indeed, if OFWs can be assisted in finding investment outlets for their hard-earned money, as what the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has started to do, then perhaps the economy will grow even more than it does at present. The senator’s proposal is for the POEA to include crash courses in investing money and financial literacy in predeparture briefings for OFWs, so they can make better investment choices with their earnings abroad. If government agencies can make the OFWs familiar with investment opportunities and their rates of return, then the OFWs can put their excess funds in sound investment schemes. The possibilities are endless: OFWs can go into agribusiness, or undertake contract growing for various agri-integrators. They can lease land for sugar and corn production. They can buy government bonds that offer higher yields than money deposited in savings accounts. Already, OFW money has gone into trucking and transport, small-scale garments production, food processing, and feed mill operations, apart, of course, from the ubiquitous sari-sari stores. The proposal, of course, is not new. A few NGOs already assist returning OFWs make better use of their savings. But if government agencies can team up with the private sector and civil society to properly educate OFWs on key investment opportunities as well as the risks and returns, then they can have a menu of investment options that will allow them to secure a better future for themselves and their families.     *****

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/04302007/opinion01.html

Study: RP diaspora widens poverty gap

Study: RP diaspora widens poverty gap

Billions of dollars in remittances by its huge overseas work force are lifting many areas of the Philippines out of poverty but millions more are being left behind, according to a study obtained by Agence France Presse Thursday.

Manila and five other regions that account for most of the labor exports also have the country's lowest poverty levels, and five of these areas showed significant drops in poverty levels between 2000 and 2003, said the paper by University of Santo Tomas professor Alvin Ang.

However, poverty levels increased to between 34 percent to 49 percent in those regions where labor export is not a principal preoccupation, the study said, citing government data.

The government estimates 30 percent of the Philippine population are poor. But World Bank data show nearly 40 percent of Filipinos live on two dollars a day or less.

Ang's paper said the results support the hypothesis "that those who are migrating and working abroad are not poor" and that the remittances, which reached a record 10.7 billion dollars in 2005, "have multiplier effects in terms of education, health, housing, (and) entrepreneurship" among others.

However, "instead of levelling the regional poverty levels, it probably contributes to its worsening" in areas where workers do not have the proper skills as well as the resources to move overseas.

The Philippines started large-scale exports of construction workers and seamen in the 1970s amid a building boom in the oil-soaked Middle East.

Ang said deployments shifted in favor of lower-skilled service workers, including domestics, with the emergence of the so-called "tiger" economies of Asia by the late 1980s.

Since the 1990s, the information technology revolution and the graying populations of much of the developed world opened up job opportunities for highly-skilled Filipino professionals and technical workers.

He said this raised the per capita annual remittance levels by more than 500 percent to nearly 11,000 dollars in 2005 compared to about 2,000 dollars in 1988.

Since most of the migrating workers "are from relatively affluent regions, they may be worsening inequality among regions," Ang concluded.

He also raised concern that the remittance money flows "are causing sharp declines in agricultural production" because "it seems that labor would rather wait for the opportunity to (work abroad) than work in the farms."

He also said the huge capital flow "have yet to be translated to value-added activities and investments which are more foundational sources of development and growth."

The bulk of the remittance money appear to be sucked into consumer spending that has spurred the rise of giant shopping malls across the country, he added. AFP

 

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=66876 

 

BSP pushes sale of $1-B bonds to OFWs

Move can shift focus from spending to investing

By Doris Dumlao
Inquirer
Last updated 10:07pm (Mla time) 02/11/2007

THE BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas has urged the national government to offer this year as much as $1 billion in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) to overseas Filipino workers and their beneficiaries.

In a report to Malacañang on initiatives to improve the environment for offshore workers, the BSP said it had taken steps together with the Department of Finance and the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) "to finalize the proposed issuance of RTBs for OFWs."

"This is aimed at encouraging them and their beneficiaries to channel their remittances to investment instruments," the BSP reported.

The proposed issuance, targeted within the year but not necessarily in one single sale, aims to divert more OFW inflows for economic development while giving OFW households lucrative investment outlets.

"These savings and investments will help prepare OFWs for future reintegration into the Philippine economy and help provide additional funding for government requirements, including for infrastructure development," the report said.

The offering size proposed by the BSP was based on the assumption that OFWs could set aside about 10 percent of their earnings for investments.

The issuance of RTBs also helps the BSP's monetary policy as a way of siphoning off strong inflows from OFWs.

"For their part, commercial banks have offered OFWs specialized investment products and services related to insurance, pension and real estate," the BSP said. "Direct payment schemes of banks are also available for the added convenience of the OFWs' beneficiaries."

In line with its major advocacy programs, the BSP is conducting financial literacy campaigns (FLCs) for OFWs and their beneficiaries together with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

"The FLCs emphasize the importance of saving and inform the participants of alternative opportunities for their remittances such as placements in financial instruments and investments in business ventures," the BSP reported.

Based on a survey of four rural banks and one cooperative bank in the three regions where the BSP conducted FLCs, microfinance loans attributed to OFWs have risen in their areas, particularly in Tuguegarao, Cagayan.

Microfinance is the provision of small, unsecured loans to the poor to help them start their own businesses.

OFW remittances coursed through the banking system surged to $11.4 billion in the first 11 months of 2006 from $6.1 billion in 2000. These remittances boosted the supply of foreign exchange, helping stabilize the exchange rate and provided valuable support to economic growth, particularly through strong personal consumption expenditures.

The BSP expects the remittances coursed through banks to grow by another 10 percent this year to $13.5 billion.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=48819

 

Surreal: a 'hearing' in the Senate, a briefing at the Palace

Surreal: a ‘hearing’ in the Senate,
a briefing at the Palace

By Butch Fernandez and Mia Gonzalez
Reporters

DESPITE pronouncements by various agencies that the multibillion-peso funds of overseas Filipino workers are intact and ready for their use in the Middle East, Malacañang refused to allow executive officials to testify Monday at the Senate labor committee hearing on government plans to move out overseas Filipino workers affected by the Lebanon crisis.

Senate probers said the Palace action, made amid persistent claims by the Executive that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds are intact, merely fueled suspicion of irregularity.

The snub resulted in the awkward scenario of executive officials briefing reporters in Malacañang while members of the Senate labor committee faced empty chairs just a few kilometers away.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in a letter to labor committee chairman Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, declined the Senate invitation because it “does not refer to any possible statute that prompted the inquiry,” among other reasons.

But Sen. Richard Gordon, who filed a resolution that triggered the Senate inquiry, warned that the nonappearance of the invited Palace and OWWA officials “opens up Malacañang to more probing questions on the OWWA fund issue. “This issue will fester because they did not show up,” Gordon added.

The ambassador to Lebanon, Al Francis Bichara, found time, though, to respond to senators’ questions in a videoconference during the hearing. He confirmed that the latest order from Manila is to evacuate all OFWs in southern Lebanon.

Under questioning by senators, Bichara admitted the OFW evacuation encountered funding difficulties with the Philippine Embassy advancing the money for the initial phase of the withdrawal of Filipinos from war-torn areas.

“I had to ask to find out that OWWA released $19,000 for evacuation funds and was told that the money was deposited in the personal account of an OWWA officer,” Bichara said.

This prompted Sen. Joker Arroyo to point out that while the OWWA has collected over P8 billion from departing OFWs, “it sent only $19,000 for evacuation, when under the law they are the ones in charge of situations like this. Where are they hoarding the OWWA money?” Arroyo asked. He also pointed out that under RA 8042, all costs of OFW repatriation shall be borne by the OWWA.

Across town, meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the fate of Ambassador Bichara, who stirred a controversy when he alleged that the embassy in Lebanon has no more funds for evacuation operations, would be determined by the DFA “at the proper time.”

“Right now he is the ambassador. As ambassador he is head of mission. He has prime control of everybody there. We have emphasized that. Just like the military, we follow the chain of command. As long as he stays in his post, he is commander on the ground. And we will hold him to that,” he said.

Conejos also said that while the DFA’s man in Israel, Ambassador Antonio Modena, has submitted a proposal of a standby fund in preparation for a possible evacuation from Israel, “at this time, there is no necessity to evacuate anybody from Israel, and the ambassador is most emphatic about that.”

Still, those familiar with the DFA and OWWA processes noted that a standby fund was exactly being sought by ambassadors because the violence or risk to Filipinos’ safety may suddenly escalate, and there would be little time left for Philippine consular officials to only start looking for funds then.

Debunking Palace officials’ concerns that the senators may just be on a fishing expedition, Gordon shot back that he filed the resolution calling for a Senate inquiry because “nobody was giving us a full answer on what OWWA officials would do for our OFWs if the situation worsens in Lebanon.”

He added, “We need this inquiry because relatives of the 34,000 OFWs affected by the Lebanon crisis need to know what the government is doing for them.”

According to Senator Estrada, the “statutes” that Ermita wanted listed in the Senate invitation were in Gordon’s Senate Resolution 515 calling for an inquiry, particularly Republic Act 8042, also known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

“The refusal of Malacañang to let its officials attend the Senate hearing is a clear indication of a Palace cover-up of the massive depletion of OWWA funds,” Senator Estrada said.

A pending case at the Ombudsman is questioning an OWWA resolution transferring P500.3 million of OWWA Medicare funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. on February 2, 2004, or barely three months before the May 2004 presidential elections.

Because of the no-show by the Palace officials, senators may decide to first submit a preliminary committee report that the disbursements of OWWA funds, now estimated at P8 billion to P10 billion, cannot be explained.

The senators are still deliberating on whether the no-show officials should be served subpoenas if another hearing is called by the committee.

In a Palace news briefing held at the same time as the Senate inquiry, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye read a letter sent by Ermita to Estrada, chairman of the Senate labor committee, explaining his nonappearance, together with other government officials.

Besides claiming they were not told what statutes are proposed to be covered by remedial legislation, he added that “all of the government officials invited to the inquiry are currently engaged in critical operations to get our OFWs in Lebanon out of harm’s way, and bring them home to the Philippines.”

He also said that Ermita is expected to send a similar letter to the House of Representatives when the latter sends an invitation to for a similar inquiry. OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque, among those asked to appear in the Senate hearing, said in the Palace briefing he is prepared to face the inquiry at a later date when the evacuation process in Lebanon slows down.

---With C. Jimenez

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front01.php