Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Equality of Treatment (Social Security) Convention, 1962 (No. 118) - Philippines (Ratification: 1994)

With reference to its previous direct request of 2001, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report received in September 2006 and, in particular, that concerning the application of Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Convention.

Article 3, paragraph 3, of the Convention. In reply to the Committee’s previous comments pointing to the need to bring section 15 of the Social Security Act of 1997 (Act No. 8282) into conformity with Article 3(3) of the Convention, the Government indicates that, as there has been an instance that section 15 has been used, a committee was set up to review the provisions of the Act No. 8282 in the light of the Committee’s comments and to prepare draft legislation for submission to the Philippine Congress. In view of these measures, the Committee hopes that the Government would bring section 15 of the Act No. 8282 into full conformity with Article 3(3) of the Convention in the near future, having recourse, if need be, to the technical assistance of the ILO.

Article 3, paragraph 1, and Article 4, paragraph 1 (in conjunction with Article 10, paragraph 1). In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to ensure that foreigners who were allowed to enrol as members of the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP), received equal treatment with Filipino nationals both as regards coverage and as regards the right to benefits provided by the NHIP. In reply, the Government states that the coverage of foreign nationals under the NHIP, although categorized as voluntary, implies their treatment on an equal footing as regards entitlement to benefits with the Filipino nationals who enjoy compulsory coverage. The Government refers in this respect to the Public Health Insurance Corporation Office Order No. 0026 of 22 February 2005, which institutes a mechanism to enable enrolment of foreign nationals under the NHIP and contains guidelines concerning their membership, declaration of dependants, place of enrolment, premium payments and award of benefits. The Committee notes that this Order concerns the enrolment of citizens of other countries residing and/or working in the Philippines. Apart from submitting the required application for registration to the NHIP, the registrant shall also be required to submit a photocopy of his/her Alien Certificate of Registration issued by the Bureau of Immigration to prove his/her residency in the country. Dependants of newly enrolled foreign nationals are also covered provided they are residing in the Philippines. The foreign national member and his/her dependants residing in the Philippines shall be entitled to avail of PhilHealth benefits only during their stay in the Philippines.

Recalling that under Article 4(1) of the Convention, equality of treatment as regards the granting of benefits shall be accorded without any condition of residence, the Committee would like the Government to indicate in its next report whether and to what extent the condition of residence imposed on the foreign national members of the NHIP and their dependants as regards the granting of PhilHealth benefits is applied also to the Filipino nationals covered by the NHIP. Please indicate whether refugees and stateless persons could also benefit from the mechanism of enrolment instituted by the abovementioned Order.