Pioneer inks MOA for OFW insurance needs

MANILA, Philippines - The Overseas Placement Association of the Philippines Inc. (OPAP), the country’s oldest and largest organization of licensed overseas employment services provider with over 500 members, signed recently a memorandum of agreement with Pioneer Life Inc. and Pioneer Insurance and Surety Corp., two of the country’s largest insurance corporations, for the compulsory insurance coverage of overseas Filipino workers as required under Republic Act 10022. 

Romeo P. Nacino and Eduardo T. Mahiya, OPAP chairman and president, respectively, signed the agreement on behalf of the OPAP, while Ma. Consuelo A. Banes and Yangtze P. Quin, both first vice presidents, signed on behalf of Pioneer Life, and Pioneer Insurance, respectively. 

R.A. 10022, otherwise known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, mandates Philippine licensed recruitment agencies to provide free, compulsory insurance coverage for the OFWs they deploy.

The coverage, effective for the duration of the migrant worker’s employment contract, shall cover, at the minimum (a) accidental death, with at least $15,000 in survivor’s benefit payable to the migrant worker’s beneficiaries; (b) natural death, with at least $ 10,000 in survivor’s benefit payable to the migrant worker’s beneficiaries; (c) permanent total disablement, with at least $7,500 in disability benefit payable to the migrant worker; and(d) repatriation cost of the worker when his/her employment, including the transport of his/her personal belongings. In case of death, the insurance provider shall arrange and pay for the repatriation or return of the worker’s remains.

The insurance shall also provide (a) subsistence allowance benefit of at least $100 per month for a maximum of six months for a migrant worker who is involved in a case or litigation for the protection of his/her rights in the receiving country; (b) money claims arising from employer’s liability which may be awarded or given to the worker in a judgment or settlement of his/her case in the NLRC, and which should be equivalent to at least three months’ salaries for every year of the migrant worker’s employment contract; (c) cost of compassionate visit of one family member or a requested individual;  (d) medical evacuation; and(e) medical repatriation.