Families of OFWs ‘most affected’ by ‘zero remittance week’ - Palace exec

Malacañang said on Wednesday that only the families of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be affected if they mount a ‘zero remittance week.’

Palace Press Officer Usec. Atty. Claire Castro said in a press briefing that they don’t think that only few OFWs will mount such an initiative because it will only affect their families.

“Noon natin pong sinagot ang patungkol dito na zero remittance nakita ko po sa ibang mga comments na iyong mga ibang OFWs ay sinabi nilang hindi sila lalahok dahil magugutom ang kanilang pamilya, maaapektuhan ang pamilya nila kapag sinunod nila ang zero remittance,” she said.

Castro added that the Palace won’t do legal actions as of the moment to file a case against.

“As of the moment, hindi po pa kasi ito pinag-iisipan ng gobyerno. Ang alam po kasi natin ang OFW ay magkakaroon po sila ng sariling pagdedesisyon,” the press officer told the media.

Castro previously appealed to the OFWs to see the government as their ally.

“The government is not your enemy. We are your allies. What’s important is to stay vigilant and distinguish between fake news and the truth,” she said.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday warned about the implications of the move, saying it could affect their tax perks.

“For every action there is always a possible counter  action. If such an advice is followed by some OFWs, what will happen should Congress, for instance,  retaliate and cancel or also suspend  the tax privileges of the OFWs that follow the advice?” Enrile said in a Facebook post.

He added that they are exempted from documentary stamp taxes and filing income tax returns.

The former senator reminded the OFWs to think carefully before mounting the ‘no remittance week’ “before they get burned by it.”

“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,” Enrile said.

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.

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.

He said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that $618M were generated in overseas Filipino remittances in the first week of March 2024.

“Assuming 71% of this interrupted -- taking off from how 71% of overseas Filipinos voted Duterte in 2016 (much more than 39% Duterte got of total vote) -- at most $439M remits might stop,” Africa added.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has $107,378M in net international reserves as of end-February 2025 that can meet the economy’s demand.

The statement came after several OFW groups proposed to halt remittances to the Philippines for a week in response to former president Duterte's arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

The former president was arrested on March 11 by an arrest warrant issued by the ICC over allegations of human rights violations.

According to government records, at least 6,000 drug suspects were killed in police operations during Duterte’s war on drugs while human rights groups report as high as 30,000.

The confirmation of charges hearing will be on September 23 where he will have the chance to contest the said allegations.