HB3576; what is it all about

Posted by 
Pahayag ng Migrante
Rome, Italy 13/03/2014

House Bill 3576 also known as forced remittance bill and mandating all embassies to enforce the  obligatory remittance is all about raising funds for the government and makes one feel nothing but contempt for its proponents. House Bill 3576 authored by former ambassador Roy Señeres from the party-list group OFW Family Club seeks to penalize overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who fail to remit money through formal banking channels to the Philippines, as if it is a magnanimous gesture for our family.

For this reason, Ofws around the world immediately raised their voices and fists in protest against this utterly absurd bill with reactions ranging from outright indignation to sarcastic ones like inquiring Señeres’ account number so they can remit to him directly.

The unpopular bill that is rightly considered by Ofws as another burden for Filipino migrants. : labour export is a multibillion dollar industry for the Philippine government. OFW remittance comprised 10% of the country’s GDP in 2012 and by the first half of 2013, already registered a 5.8 percent increase as compared to the level of the same period in 2012. Remittance is the crux to the neoliberal globalization model of migration for development and HB3576, advertently or inadvertently, trails along such line that treats overseas workers as commodities and mere dollar-earners.

To migrant workers, the bill is an attempt to revive the draconian EO857 of the Marcos regime in 1982 with similar provisions. Opposition to EO857 was like a wildfire that mobilized thousands of OFWs around the world and in Hong Kong, it triggered the formation of the United Filipinos Against Forced Remittance or UNFARE later renamed United Filipinos in Hongkong (UNIFIL-HK) and spread to other countries and later bonded together to form the alliance  Mingrante International.

For someone that claims to champion OFW rights and wellbeing, Señeres is way off touch with the real condition and sentiments of Filipinos abroad.

Let OFWs face it squarely, from Facebook to the streets, with a collective strength that will be a present-day horror for the author and this BS government.

HB 3576? It is all about collecting money from the Ofws.