Umangal si ACTS OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III kaugnay ng bagong P500 sinisingil ng Health Ministry of the Gulf Cooperation Council sa mga overseas Filipino workers na magtatrabaho sa mga bansang miyembro nito.
Ayon kay Bertiz malinaw na ginagawang gatasan ang mga OFW na nais na magtrabaho sa Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, at Yemen.
Tinawag umanong Freedom of Choice ang bagong sistema kung saan kailangang magrehistro sa bagong medical registration scheme sa pamamagitan ng website ang aplikanteng OFW na pagbabayarin ng P500 sa pamamagitan ng credit card.
“The new system that is being rammed down the throats of our OFWs, our local recruiters, and medical clinics by foreign entities is nothing but another illegal scheme hatched to use our OFWs as cash cows,” ani Bertiz.
Sa pagtataya ni Bertiz aabot sa P164 milyon- P177 milyon ang kikitain ng GCC Health Ministry sa bagong singiling ito. Noong 2015, 353,658 bagong OFW ang nagtrabaho sa mga bansang miyembro ng GCC.
Sinabi ni Bertiz na hindi malinaw kung para saan ang bagong bayarin at kung saan ito mapupunta.
“It is also very inconvenient and discriminatory to some OFWs since they would need a credit card to make an online payment and proceed with scheduling the medical examination.”
Nanawagan si Bertiz sa Department of Foreign Affairs na iprotesta ang bagong sinisingil sa mga OFW.
“This relentless effort to undermine our sovereignty and to earn from the backs of our modern-day heroes undermines our long history of friendship with allies in the Gulf region. Let us not waste time rejecting this new scheme because it violates our laws and adds to the burdens of our OFWs and their deploying agencies,” dagdag pa ng solon.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.