Lending companies and recruitment agencies are requested by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to condone or renegotiate loans of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have lost their job because of the political conflict, civil unrest or health threats in their host countries. The government agency is specifically referring to OFWs who are caught in the political violence in Yemen, Libya and Bahrain, those who experienced the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and are at risk to be affected by the radiation from the nuclear power plant. It also includes OFWs who are affected by the malaria infection outbreak in Madagascar.

The POEA chief, Carlos Cao Jr. said that outstanding loans of affected OFWs should be restructured by the lending companies to help displaced and repatriated OFWs cope with the recent negative changes in their lives.  

Cao said, “Those unexpected or uncontrollable events forced our OFWs to return to the country without finishing their contracts, many of them with loans incurred for documentation and placement fees and cannot possibly pay on time because they are now unemployed.”

The POEA chief reminded the lending companies of the prohibited acts and corresponding penalties provided under Republic Act No. 10022: Rule IV, Section 3c of the Omnibus Rules and Regulations Implementing Republic Act 8042, as amended by Republic Act No. 10022 prohibits any person or entity to “refuse to condone or renegotiate a loan incurred by an OFW after the latter’s employment contract has been prematurely terminated through no fault of his/her own.”

Section 4c of the same Rule says “Any person found guilty of any of the prohibited acts shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than six (6) years and one (1) day but not more than twelve (12) years and a fine of not less than Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php500,000.00) nor more than One Million Pesos (Php1,000,000.00).”