Migrante which is composed of militant overseas Filipinos, spearheads rallies and forums which tackle issues deemed to be impacting on the good of the Filipinos who have left the Philippines in the pursuit of livelihood to support their families back home.
In a media statement released on 3 June, 2020 Migrante Australia had expressed serious concerns with the issuance of Circular 2020-0014 dated 22 April 2020 which stipulated all Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and Filipino migrants as mandatory members of PhilHealth. PhilHealth was mandated as the government agency to insure accessible health care of Filipino citizens by virtue of the Universal Health Care Act of 2019 (Republic Act No. 11223) signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on 20 February 2019.
Section IVA of the Circular stipulated it covers all overseas Filipinos living and working outside of the Philippines, including those on vacation or those waiting for documentation, whether registers or unregistered to the National Health Insurance Program. It listed 'overseas Filipinos' to include the following:
*land-based OFWs
* seafarers and other sea-based workers
*Filipinos with dual citizenship (RA 9225)
*Filipinos living abroad
*Overseas Filipinos in distress
*other overseas Filipinos not previously classified elsewhere.
Ms Carmelita Baltazar, Chairperson of Migrante Australia said that members of the Filipino Australian community are so disappointed that the Philippine government did not consult any migrant organisations in formulating its healthcare programs and medical insurance and then passed a law mandating them to become members of PhilHealth insurance.
She said: "It is dodgy as we will automatically become members of PhilHealth even without signing a membership form. The automatic membership will legitimise taking 3% of our basic pay starting June 2020 and increasing yearly by half percent to 5% through a system generated billing statement."Mr Danny Ladera, also of Migrante, highlighted that it would mean that Australian employers will also be made to pay their counterpart contribution of each of the Filipino citizen they employ. He said: "There is already an existing and reliable medical system in Australia and temporary migrants such as workers and international students have private health insurance as part of their visa requirements. It doesn't make sense."Ms Baltazar said: "We will seek a dialogue with the Ambassador Ma. Hellen De La Vega, to sound off the sentiments of the Filipino migrants against mandatory PhilHealth membership and the premium increase. We will ask some questions and also clarifications on Memorandum Circular 2020-0014."We will have an open mind in discussing the national situation in the Philippines and the relevance of PhilHealth insurance to overseas Filipinos".