The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is sitting on a record-high trust fund now valued at ₱21.6 billion, its administrator told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, even as a lawmaker questioned whether displaced workers abroad are receiving enough financial support to cover basic options like relocating to another country for work.
OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan told the committee the fund had already surpassed last year’s record close.
“I would like to report to the committees that we finished last year with the highest trust fund level at P21.3 billion, and as for monitoring by this month, it increased even to P21.6 billion,” Caunan said.
She explained that OWWA manages two distinct funding streams — its General Appropriations Act budget and the trust fund — with the latter exclusively financing programs for dues-paying members, including the Balik Pinas Balik Hanapbuhay reintegration initiative. Around 25,000 members used that program last year alone, she noted.
The clarifications came after Rep. Brian Poe raised concerns that current financial assistance reaching some OFWs — reported to be around AED 700 — falls short of what workers actually need. Poe pointed out that the same amount is roughly what it costs to apply for a visa to Saudi Arabia or another country.
“The reason why I’m asking this, Mr. Chair, is because our OFWs only have two options. Either A, mag-aantay sila dun sa area nila at mag-aantay para sa trabaho to open up again, or B, mag-a-apply sila ng visa to Saudi or to another area, which costs around 700 AED. Hindi talaga sapat ang pondong ito,” Poe said.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac stepped in to clarify that the AED 700 assistance does not come from OWWA’s trust fund but from a separate Department of Migrant Workers account.
“These are funds that are made to at least, where we thought, pantawid kahit papano for the duration. Of course, notwithstanding any possible future assistance that may come,” Cacdac said.
Poe, who noted that OFWs pay $25 or roughly ₱1,400 for OWWA membership — a fee that covers repatriation assistance — also pressed officials on how a member based in Dubai or Saudi Arabia would actually go about accessing repatriation funds if needed.
He framed his line of questioning as an effort to counter misinformation circulating online about what assistance is available to workers abroad.
“I want to clarify that and that’s why I ask these questions and to let our patriots abroad know na there are funds available for them and we are getting those funds to them,” Poe said.
Caunan’s disclosure that the trust fund has continued growing even during the current period of displacement puts pressure on officials to demonstrate that the money is reaching members who need it most.
