Online campaign to renew OWWA membership

In the past two weeks, two Filipino workers died on Saipan. Because they did not renew their membership with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, their friends on Saipan have been asking for monetary donations to help the families back home for funeral expenses and other needs.

Paul Madriaga, vice president-internal of the United Filipino Organization, started an online public service campaign reminding his fellow overseas Filipino workers in the CNMI to renew their OWWA membership before they expire to help protect their families in case they pass away unexpectedly.

As noted by Philippine government officials, many Filipinos in the CNMI renew their OWWA membership, or apply for one, only when they are about to go on vacation in the Philippines. If they don’t go on vacation for two years or more, they wouldn’t renew their membership.

“OWWA is an OFW insurance for our families just in case something happens to us, like death,” Madriaga said, citing the two recent deaths of OFWs.

He said families in the Philippines need any financial help they could get once the remains of their loved one arrive in the country.

Madriaga said the money from OWWA will be of great help to the family of a deceased worker. Besides life insurance, there are other benefits of being an OWWA member.

He echoed the statement of Philippine labor attaché Joann Lourdes Lavilla that a worker’s $25 in annual OWWA membership fee goes a long way in helping their families after they’re gone.

To apply for OWWA membership or renew one’s membership, all one needs to do is fill up an application form that can be downloaded online at www.owwa.gov.ph or can be obtained from the OWWA office on the ground floor of the Marianas Business Plaza (formerly Nauru Building) in Susupe.

Recipients of the online campaign welcomed the reminder.

Of the estimated 8,000 to10,000 OFWs in the CNMI, only about 3,325 renewed their OWWA membership as of 2008.

OWWA, an attached agency of the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment, is the lead government agency tasked to protect and promote the welfare and well-being of overseas Filipino workers and their dependents.

For a $25 membership contribution, an OWWA member is entitled to various benefits and services, including life/accident insurance. A member is covered with life insurance for the duration of his employment contract. The coverage includes P100,000 for natural death and P200,000 for accidental death.

A member shall be entitled to disability/dismemberment benefits ranging from P2,000 to P50,000. In case of total permanent disability, a member shall be entitled to P100,000. A burial benefit of P20,000 shall also be provided in case of the member’s death.