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 pay 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 economy would hit them hard, depriving them of much of the value of their hard-earned income abroad.