Note: This post is meant for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and has no direct relation to Japan. I'm posting this because I'm an OFW who sees no point for OEC.
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| photo credit: http://polomuscatoman.weebly.com/how-to-get-an-oec.html |
What is OEC?
OEC stands for Overseas Employment Certificate. According to Pinoy-OFW:
"An Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) is a requirement under POEA Rules and Regulations to help ensure that Filipino overseas workers (OFWs) are properly documented and protected. This certificate, when presented at Philippine airports for outbound international flights, also exempts OFWs from travel tax and terminal fees normally charged to travelers."
The purpose of the OEC looks reasonable and noble on print. It's meant to "ensure proper documentation" and to "protect OFW's". It's even meant to exempt OFW's from travel tax and terminal fees.
Why OEC should be abolished?
Let me explain why in a non-personal, unbiased way.
1.An OFW can legally and lawfully leave the Philippines as long as he has a working visa.
If you have a working visa, it simply means that you can work in the country that granted you the visa. In essence, even if you do not have an OEC, you shouldn't be stopped at the airports because you have a visa.
My friends from other countries who also teach in Japan do not need OEC's. They can come to Japan because they have working visas. Why then, does the Philippine government ask documented workers to document themselves again?
Hence, to say that an OEC is needed to properly document OFW's is redundant. Even the way I explained it so repetitive.
2. The OEC itself does not "protect" OFW's.
It's the OWWA insurance coverage that does that. All OFW's have to pay OWWA insurance annually. To state that the OEC is for protection is misleading.
In fact, to state that OFW's only need to pay 100 PHP for the OEC is also misleading. OFW's have to prepare at least 2,000 PHP when getting their OEC. Along with the OEC, OFW's need to pay PAG-IBIG, PhilHealth and OWWA Membership. The last time I got an OEC, I paid about 3,000+ PHP.
How a 100 PHP worth of paper can provide protection is beyond me. The government should at least clarify it's not the OEC but the other fees that insures OFW's.
3. It's a GREAT WASTE of time and effort
Gettting an OEC takes time especially for OFW's who are coming from remote areas. You need at least half a day just to get this unnecessary paper. And this is only true during the off season. Last holiday season, I wasted 14 hours of my life along with thousands of OFW just to get this unnecessary paper. I was in the POEA office from 10 am to 9 pm (plus 3 hours of travel). We were all desperately in line waiting for hours for POEA to process our OEC's. It was a horrible horrible experience. It was also my birthday. (sad, sad, sad)
The first time I got an OEC, I had to travel all the way to Philippine's Labor Office in Tokyo from Hamamatsu. That's 4 hours of one way travel. The second time, I tried the online schedule for OEC's. The POEA kept on bragging about how people don't need to fall in line with this system. I went to POEA's sattelite office inTrinoma but it still took me 3 hours to get an OEC. That's 5 hours in total including the travel time.
Not only is the OEC a waste of time for the OFW. It's also a waste of time and effort for the POEA staff. Don't the people have nothing better to do than to process this paper?
Let's also include the POEA staff at the airports who are only there to stamp OEC's. Why do they have to check the OEC again and again? Can't the immigration officers do that?
Why is the POEA wasting people's money for this mundane task?
In effect, the whole process of getting an OEC is a waste of time and money for everybody. Obviously, it's a form of red tape. (Much like the red ribbon process in DFA but that's for another day). The OEC is a glaring form of excessive bureaucracy.
4. Why it should be kept?
My arguments in a nutshell: The OEC is redundant, unnecessary and wasteful. My mind can't comprehend why the POEA should keep on imposing this evil paper on OFW's. If all the points I've raised are not strong enough, then I'm reversing my question- Why can't we live and leave without it?
The exemption from travel and terminal fees are irrelevant reasons. I'd gladly pay them than go through hell in getting an OEC.
What Can this OFW do?
While I was in line getting my OEC, I can hear the complaints of other OFW's. I added my own complaints. The problem is we all stopped complaining once we're face to face with the POEA staff. We dutifully filled out the paper works and paid our bills. At the very least, I should have asked someone there or filed a complaint. But, I was just too tired to argue. After getting my OEC, I was just too relieved to protest.
And this is part of the reason why nothing's changing. OFW's are just too tired to bother. I'm no exception.
But I can do THIS- I can write against the whole system. I have the right to ask for clarifications and even corrections on this matter. I'm spending a hundred pesos of honest money for something I don't understand. I'm not ranting for spite. My arguments aren't without reason.
This blog is not a formal forum for these things, I know. And maybe this post won't really change a thing. The very least it can do is to add to other voices of OFW who want to abolish, eliminate, expunge, and eradicate the OEC.
