By Rey Panaligan The Supreme Court (SC) was asked on Tuesday (August 27) to stop the government from implementing the provisions in a new law that mandates compulsory coverage under the Social Security System (SSS) of land-based Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). A group of OFWs and several legislators sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against several provisions of Republic Act No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018 and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR). Supreme Court of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN) Specifically, they wanted to stop immediately and, thereafter, nullify subsections (a), (c) and (e) of Section 9-B of RA 11199 which provides for the compulsory coverage of land-based OFWs and categorizing them as self-employed. They also wanted to nullify Sections 1, 5, 5-A, 6, 7(iii) and 7 (iv) of the IRR issued by the SSS on the compulsory coverage and the creation of a joint committee with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to ensure the collection of the contributions. The petitioners told the SC: “Everyday, an average of 6,298 OFWs leave the country, with more than 70 per cent of these being land-based workers. A third of them are new hires and some two-thirds are rehires.” They said that in 2018, remittances by OFWs “registered an all time high of US$32.2 Billion, comprising 9.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.” They said that under RA 11199 and its IRR, the new hires are obligated to pay P2,400 as their first month contribution representing both the employer and employee shares.  For the rehires, a three-month contribution of P7,200 should be paid for the issuance of their overseas employment certificates (OECs). “Failure to pay would deprive them of their OECs and the right to travel abroad for work. They will practically be barred from departing from the point of hire. This gross violation of their rights must be stopped immediately or extreme prejudice and injury would befall petitioner-OFWs and tens of thousands of Filipinos who are similarly situated,” they said. They pointed out that land-based OFWs receive compensation or salary derived from their employment with their foreign employers. In the case of local employees, their employers in the Philippines contribute to the payment of SSS contributions as mandated by law, they said. But, they stressed, that in the case of land-based OFWs, their employers are beyond the ambit of Philippine laws and government enforcement as far as SSS contributions are concerned. “While the assailed law mandates the government to negotiate bilateral agreements with OFWs’ host countries under Section 9-B (d), and in which case land-based OFWs would be considered as compulsorily covered employees with employer and employee shares in contribution, this ideal scenario is still a future event that may or may not happen,” they said. “Meanwhile, the status is that land-based OFWs are being required to be compulsory members to the SSS with the status of a self-employed person paying both the employee and employer shares. Section 9-B (d) of the assailed law could not serve as a reasonable justification for this grossly unfair classification,” they said. They also told the SC: “While finding the objective of the legislature to be noble and in fulfillment of the State’s mandate to protect our troubled compatriots, we cannot help but protest, through this Petition, the unjustness of the measures through which we are going to be covered by the system. “The OFWs in this Petition wish to persuade this Honorable Court that the policy for their mandatory coverage under the provisions of the law in question poses an imminent economic harm that far outweighs its intended future benefits.” The petition was filed by Migrante International, Bayan Muna Partylist chairman Neri Colmenares and Reps. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite, and Eufemia Cullamat; Gabriela Women’s Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas; ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Francisca Castro; Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Jane Elago; and land-based OFWs namely Feliza Benitez, Jennifer Borbe, Maria Lovina Castro, Michelle Custodio, Ervie Fuentes, Fatima Mampo, Elvira Montero, Rosario Valdesco, and Verna Villancio. Named respondents in the case are the SSS represented by its chairman Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, SSS president and vice-chairman Aurora Ignacio, DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III, and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard Olalia. RA 11199 was signed into law by President Duterte on Feb. 7, 2019. Last June, several ship manning agencies asked the SC to declare unconstitutional provisions in the Social Security Act of 2018 that impose mandatory contributions for OFWs to the SSS and declare them as employers. In a petition, the Joint Ship Manning Group, Inc. asked the SC to issue a TRO to stop the implementation of Section 9-B of RA 11199 that provides compulsory social security coverage for overseas Filipino workers and considers manning agencies dealing with sea-based OFWs as employers. Among other things, Section 9-B of RA 11199 provides that “coverage in the SSS shall be compulsory upon all sea-based OFWs…” and “manning agencies are agents of their principals and are considered as employers of sea-based OFWs.” Through lawyer Blessilda Abad, the ship manning group told the SC that Section 9-B of RA 11199 is unfair to the sea-based manning agencies which are considered as employers when they are only recruiters of foreign employers. “In a way, the liabilities are being passed on to the manning agencies, the recruiters, instead of the employers. So instead of the employers being the shipowners, what happens is the manning agencies are declared employers when all they did was really to recruit the OFWs,” Abad said. Earlier, SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Dooc had said that one of the advantages of the law is covering the social security of all OFWs. Dooc had said that SSS coverage of OFWs will secure their retirement through entitlement to lifetime pension benefits. He said that out of three million OFWs only about 600,000 are SSS registered members.