PHILIPPINES: DEPARTING OFWs SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO PAY OWWA FEE IN DOLLARS — PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today asked the government to allow
departing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to pay $25
fee in dollar denomination, rather than in peso
denomination.

Pimentel said the OFWs will be able to save some
amount if they pay in dollars due to the continued
plunge in the value of the US dollar.

He said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
should grant the request of the OFWs to pat the
departure fee in dollars, which is not an unreasonable
or frivolous thing.

“The OWWA should allow departing OFWs to pay $25 fee
rather than the floating peso rate, that is worth more
than the dollar amount. Lugi ang OFWs. The government
should support, and not exploit the OFWs,” Pimentel
said.

He noted that the OFWs and their families have lost
about P10 for every dollar remitted as a result of the
sharp appreciation of the peso. From more than P52 to
the US dollar, the exchange rate has now reached about
P42 to the dollar.

And yet, he said the government has not done any
concrete step to help the OFWs and their families
cushion the adverse impact of the rising peso despite
their immense contributions in stabilizing the
national economy.

Pimentel said it is ironic that the heavy dollar
remittances of the OFWs, reaching $12 billion last
year alone, that are buoying up the peso and propping
up the economic would hit them hard, depriving them of
much of the value of their hard-earned income abroad.
-o0o-

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