Date Posted: September 15, 2010
Source: The Philippine Star by Paolo Romero

An administration lawmaker urged yesterday President Aquino to reconsider his move to cut by half the legal assistance fund for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the proposed P1.64-trillion national budget for next year.

Valenzuela City Rep. Rex Gatchalian, whose advocacies include support and protection of the interests of the country’s migrant workers, asked Mr. Aquino to think twice and consider the repercussions before going ahead with his plan.

“Our migrant workers look up to the government as their protector and ally. They know that our government will be at their side to defend them whenever they feel that they are at the shorter end of justice in other countries,” Gatchalian said.

“But they would surely feel abandoned and betrayed once they learned that instead of helping them, it (the government) has slashed the legal assistance fund which they could use to hire competent lawyers to defend them with their legal problems,” he said.

Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla earlier exposed the cuts during the deliberations on the proposed budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs at the House of Representatives.

Padilla said the appropriation was cut from P50 million this year to P27 million for 2011 which is just a quarter of the P100-million legal assistance fund required under the Migrant Workers Act.

“These are instances when we can show that congressional insertions are vital and necessary especially for our OFWs. They send us $17 billion in remittances, why should we deprive them of assistance?” Padilla said.

“Are you going to accept this kind of aberration or violation of the law?” House minority leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said.

abriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said there is an estimated 5,000 OFWs languishing in jails, 108 of them in death row, all in need of legal assistance.

Gatchalian proposed that instead of cutting the legal assistance fund, the government should follow what was stipulated in the law which he authored that allots P100-million revolving fund for the OFWs legal fund.  

“I always support the Palace’s decision to cut cost on its expenditures but it should not come at the expense of our OFWs who have been one of our most reliable partners in nation building as well as in keeping our economy alive even during the most trying times, such as the world’s financial meltdown last year,” he said.

Gatchalian, who was vice chairman of the House Overseas Affairs Committee during the 14th Congress filed a bill that sought to increase the Legal Assistance Fund for Overseas Filipino Workers to P100 million that subsequently became Republic Act No. 10022 amending the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995.

“Our OFWs especially those who are distressed and are facing jail time in other countries for various cases most of whom are trumped-up charges deserve better treatment from the government,” he said.

“The government could show genuine concern and care for our OFWs by following what was stated in the law,” he added.