By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Members of the Rage Coalition took part in the march from Central to Admiralty |
Around 200 Filipino migrant workers marched from Central to
Admiralty today, Jan 19, to protest against a new law that forces them to pay
for national health insurance that is more than four times what they are
currently paying.
Under Republic Act 11223, migrant workers are mandated to
pay 3% of their monthly salary for PhilHealth starting this year.
For a HK OFW whose minimum pay is roughly Php30,000 a month,
the monthly premium is Php900, or P10,800 a year, a whopping 450% increase from
the Php2,400 collected from them in past years.
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| Little Lila and Rosa Carnay and Elca Villanueva (in stroller) joined the march to Admiralty |
Eman Villanueva, chair of Bayan Hong Kong and Macau, blasted at what he called the Philippine
government’s practice of burdening migrant workers with its obligation of
providing health care to its citizens.
“Ipinapasa ng gobyerno ang kanyang responsibilidad sa
balikat ng migranteng manggagawa,” Villanueva said outside the Philippine
Consulate in Admiralty, where the protesters gathered after marching from Chater Road in
Central.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has no funds
for its so-called universal health care program for Filipinos because it has
allocated a big chunk of its annual budget to pork barrel for its supporters in
the legislature.
It is also not true that PhilHealth members get to be
treated for free, said Villanueva, citing a HK OFW who only got a Php3,000
discount from the Php70,000 that she was charged recently when her son was
admitted to a hospital in the Philippines.
“Nasaan ang pera ng taumbayan?,” he asked. “Kailangan nila
ng pera dahil sa ‘build, build, ‘build kaya sila ay ‘kotong, kotong, kotong,’
at ‘utang, utang, utang’. In response, he said Filipinos should “laban, laban,
laban” any attempt to make them pay for the government’s obligations.
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| Balladares with PhilHealth advisory showing chart for the higher fees |
Lead organizer of the march, Dolores Balladares of United
Filipinos in Hong Kong, earlier called out in
her speech on Chater Road
critics who say her group was making up the story about the four-fold increase
in PhilHealth payments.
She held aloft a chart based on PhilHealth’s own advisory
showing contributions rising gradually from 3% of the monthly salary to 5% by
2024. The advisory also states that departing OFWs will be charged Php2,400
initially, but will have to pay the balance of what’s due them over the next
six months.
“Paano kung wala kang pambayad? O kapos ang iyong kinikita,
lalo na ngayon, may mga biktima ng kalamidad?” Balladares asked, in reference
to OFWs affected by last week’s devastating eruption of Taal Volcano in
Batangas.
Balladares said that PhilHealth is an insurance, so whatever
is paid for it each year is lost, whether or not members or their dependents
benefited from their coverage by getting medical treatment.
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| Protesters say mandatory PhilHealth is another 'kotong' by the Duterte administration |
Alann Cayosa-Mas, chair of Filipino Luzon Active Groups and
co-founder of Rise Against Government Exactions or Rage, lamented that from
being voluntary, PhilHealth membership is now not only mandatory, but also
costs so much more.
Shiela Tebia of Gabriela Hong Kong said President
Duterte is to blame for all the forcible collection being made from OFWs now
because all of them were implemented under his watch.
RA 11223 became law on February 20, 2019 after it was signed by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tito Sotto as Senate President, and President Duterte. It took effect on Dec. 7 last year, 15 days after the publication of its Implementing Rules and Regulations.
The groups are also opposing the mandatory payment of
Php2,400 monthly to the Social Security System implemented last year, the
long-standing forced contribution to the Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration, and a reported plan to make payments to the Pag-IBIG Fund also
compulsory.
A bill that would have required all OFWs to pay for
mandatory insurance was scrapped at the House of Representatives last October, but
the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has a similar plan that has
yet to be pushed aside.
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