Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Philippines (Ratification: 1953)

Article 6 of the Convention. Workers’ freedom to dispose of their wages. Further to its previous request on the need to ensure that remittances by overseas workers were made on a purely voluntary basis, the Committee notes that in its report the Government states that Filipino migrant workers have discretion as to how to use their salary and that the Government simply provides a mechanism to make it easier for them should they wish to remit a portion of their salary to their families in the Philippines. At the same time, the Committee notes that section 22 of the Labor Code provides that it shall be mandatory for all Filipino workers abroad to remit a portion of their foreign exchange earnings to their families in the country in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor. It further notes that, according to sections 2 and 3 of Rule XIII of Book I of the Omnibus Rules implementing the Labor Code, the amount of foreign exchange remittances shall be a minimum of 70 per cent of the overseas workers’ basic salary in the case of construction and sea-based workers, and a minimum of 50 per cent in the case of other workers. Having duly noted the Government’s statement that remittances were made on a voluntary basis, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the national legislation does not impose mandatory remittances on Filipino migrant workers.