Despite protests from licensed recruitment agencies and threats that it would result to fewer available overseas jobs for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Philippine government pushes through with its implementation of the new law that requires agencies to shoulder the insurance coverage of all deployed Filipino workers.

In connection with the new law, Jennifer Jardin-Manalili, administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) encourages OFWs to report to her office the agencies that refuse to comply with the new policy.

The insurance coverage is now part of the requirement that an agency-hired worker needs to submit before he or she can be issued an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) or exit clearance. As there may be some agencies that may pass the insurance cost to the applicants, Manalili issued a reminder that the insurance coverage should be paid by the deploying agencies.

This law is under Section 37-A of Republic Act 8042 which states that any licensed

recruitment/manning agency which passes on the cost of insurance coverage to the worker, or uses such insurance coverage as basis to claim any additional fee from the migrant worker shall lose its license and all its directors, partners, proprietors, officers and employees shall be perpetually disqualified from engaging in the overseas recruitment business.

RA 10022 mandates that every newly-hired OFWs deployed by licensed recruitment agencies shall be covered by insurance to answer the following: accidental death; natural death; permanent total disablement; repatriation cost of the worker; subsistence allowance benefit; money claims arising from the employer’s liability; compassionate visit; medical evacuation; and medical repatriation. Direct hires and returning workers or balik-manggagawa are not covered by mandatory insurance requirement.

For complaints and inquiries, you can call POEA hotline at 722-1144 to 55.