Zero-remittance week? JPE warns pro-Du30 OFWs
- Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, 101, carries on — he’s just warned OFWs against their “zero remittance week” plan in support of Duterte.
- Enrile said Congress might retaliate by canceling or suspending the tax privileges of OFWs who would take part in the “zero remittance week” from March 28 to April 4.
- He said OFWs do not pay income taxes or file income tax returns for their earnings abroad, and are also exempt from paying travel taxes, airport fees and documentary stamp taxes on their remittances. Enrile added that OFWs also need to have passports to be able to work abroad.
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) crying for the release of former President Rodrigo Duterte and who plan to stop sending money home as an act of protest over his arrest should think “many, many times” about the possible consequences of their actions.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile issued the warning on Tuesday night amid the threat of some OFW groups in Europe not to remit earnings to their families in sympathy with Duterte, who is now in the custody of the International Criminal Court on charges of committing murder as a crime against humanity through his so-called drug war.
In a Facebook post, Enrile said Congress might retaliate by canceling or suspending the tax privileges of OFWs who would take part in the “zero remittance week” from March 28 to April 4.
The former Senate President said he was offering a “humble, unsolicited reminder” to social and political leaders and OFWs who are protesting the ex-president’s incarceration at The Hague.
“Whoever advised OFWs to suspend the remittance of their earnings… should think many, many times about the adverse consequences of that advice… As I said before—for every action, there is always a possible counter action,” Enrile said.
He said OFWs do not pay income taxes or file income tax returns for their earnings abroad, and are also exempt from paying travel taxes, airport fees and documentary stamp taxes on their remittances.
Enrile added that OFWs also need to have passports to be able to work abroad.
“If such an advice is followed by some OFWs, what will happen should Congress, for instance, retaliate and cancel or suspend the tax privileges of the OFWs that follow the advice?” Enrile asked.
He added: “Congress granted these privileges to them by laws enacted by it. I earnestly suggest to our OFWs to study carefully that advice to them before they get burned by it.”
Economic driver
Reacting to Enrile’s warning on Wednesday, OFWs party list Rep. Marissa Magsino called on colleagues in Congress not to consider the actions or scenarios he cited.
“As a representative of our beloved OFWs, who are making the sacrifice of working abroad for their families, I call on the government and the opposition to keep our migrant workers out of the political conflict,” Magsino said in a statement.
In 2024, OFWs sent more than $38.84 billion in remittances to the Philippines, a key economic driver that accounted for 8.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Senate President Francis Escudero on Wednesday played down Enrile’s remarks and appealed to OFWs to stay calm.
“I will not advise it. This is not an issue of exacting revenge,” the Senate leader said of Enrile’s comment.
Instead of further antagonizing pro-Duterte groups abroad, he said, they can be persuaded to express their indignation in other ways.
Palace doubtful
At the Palace, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro also expressed optimism that OFWs would ultimately think twice about joining the zero-remittance call.
“We don’t think that they will be carried away by these pronouncements, given that their families will be affected. In the comments I’ve read, more are saying they won’t join such calls because they don’t want their families to suffer because of political issues,” she said in a press briefing.
“It’s their choice if they will send remittances or not. We just want to appeal to our OFWs that the government is not your enemy. They should be alert and find out what is fake news, and what is the truth,” Castro said.
‘All bluster and optics’
Sonny Africa, an economist and executive director of the think tank IBON Foundation, said the OFWs’ threat would hurt their own families more than the economy.
“It’s a ‘powerful message’ only because it’s catchy enough to get noticed—much like the Duterte brand which is all bluster and optics but, at its core, empty and devoid of anything meaningful or positive. And like the Duterte brand, if ignored it has no meaning at all,” Africa said in a Facebook post.
He noted that in the first week of March 2024, about $618 million in remittances were sent by OFWs.
“Assuming 71 percent of this is interrupted—taking off from how 71 percent of overseas Filipinos voted for Duterte in 2016—at most $439 million [in remittances] might stop,” Africa said.
On the other hand, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has $107.38 billion in net international reserves as of end-February 2025 that it can use to meet the economy’s demand.
Even if remittances stop for a week, he said, the money would “eventually be sent anyway, bumping up remittances afterwards.” —WITH A REPORT FROM MARLON RAMOS
