MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 07, S. 2018 NEW PROCEDURE FOR ONLINE REGISTRATION OF LANDBASED WORKERS AND LANDBASED E-CONTRACTS SYSTEM (LBECS) May 02, 2018

Pursuant to the thrust of the Administration to streamline procedures and improve transparency around recruitment and documentation processes for Landbased Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the new e-Registration and LBECS for landbased new hires shall be implemented in accordance with the following guidelines:

I.    Coverage and Service Description

1. All licensed Philippine Recruitment Agencies (PRAs) requesting for contract processing and documentation of their newly hired workers (NHWs) shall use the new LBECS.

The LBECS, as a replacement of e-Sub, is a secured web-based facility developed for active PRAs to submit online 24/7 their request for processing (RFP), pay online the POEA processing, Pag-IBIG contribution and OWWA membership fees, and print the electronic Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) of the NHWs in the comfort of the agency’s office.

2.   All landbased agency NHWS

All agency NHWs are required to register in the new e-Registration System that can be accessed at  www.poea.gov.ph under POEA Online Services or at URL  https://eservices.poea.gov.ph.

The new e-Registration System shall provide the NHWs with a new unique  registration  number  that  will  link  their  profile  to  the  LBECS system. In requesting for processing of the worker’s contract, the agency will key-in the registration number of their hired workers in the LBECS System and the required information of the workers will automatically be displayed, thereby reducing the encoding to be done by agencies. In return, the workers will be notified on the status of their contract processing, allow them to view and print their contracts information and receive notifications from POEA through their MyPOEA Dashboard that is inside the e-Registration System.

The manual and frequently asked questions (FAQs) may be viewed and downloaded from this site.

II.    Requirements in Availing of the LBECS System

1.   Submission of Request. The LBECS, being a web-based system, does not require installation. For enrollment to this system, the agency shall submit to the POEA ICT Branch the Request for Enrollment and Availment of POEA e-services (REAPS) indicating the complete name and email address of their authorized users (please see the attached form). The agency can request for a maximum of three (3) users only.

2.  Enrollment to lBP’s e-Payment System. The agency shall open an account with the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP), the payment service gateway authorized by POEA, OWWA and Pag-IBIG Fund, to receive payments for POEA processing fee, OWWA membership fee and Pag- IBIG from agencies enrolled in the LBECS System.

The requirements for enrollment in the LBP’s e-Payment System (ePS) are as follows:

a.    Letter of introduction (Forms are available at the POEA ICT Branch)
b.    LBP Peso Deposit Account where payments of the agency shall be credited
c.    Accomplished LBP ePayment Payor Enrollment Form

The agency shall submit a copy of the LBP-certified Letter of Introduction to the POEA ICT Branch after enrolling in the LBP ePS.

3.  Hardware  Requirements.  The   agency   shall   assign   a   dedicated computer per authorized user with a dedicated or stable Internet connection and updated web browser, preferably Google Chrome to access the system.

4.  Agency User Training.At least one authorized user per agency shall be required to attend the LBECS Users Training per Advisory 16, Series of 2017 and 2018.

III.  LBECS Processing Procedure

1.   Enrollment of Agency Users and Computers

1.1  The agency shall submit the REAPS to the POEA ICT Branch.

1.2  If the e-Contract’s system’s requirements mentioned above are met by  the  agency,  the  POEA  ICT  Branch  shall  enroll  the  user credentials in the system. Authorized users shall receive their username and system link through the email address indicated in the agency REAPS.

1.3  The user shall ensure to open the system link and set his password in the computer assigned to him by the agency. This activity will fingerprint the machine and authenticate the user at the same time. Once authenticated by the system, the machine can only recognize the username and password supplied by the authorized user.

1.4  If the user is unable to see or access the LBECS link in the Inbox Folder, the user should check if the email from POEA e-Services was incorrectly classified as junk in his Spam Folder. If found, the user should drag it back to the Inbox Folder and mark it as not Spam. Then click the e-Contract’s link. If the link cannot be opened, the user must copy the link in the Google Chrome’s address bar and then press Enter. The same user must ensure that the enrollment procedure is done by the user in the computer assigned to LBECS System.

1.5 If successfully enrolled, the user can view and access the e- Contract’s dashboard containing the following:

a.  LBECS Services where user can Request for Processing and View Status of all submitted RFPs, such as, for Uploading of Contract, for Printing of electronic OEC, for Payment of RFP or for Evaluation of RFP.

b. MyPOEA Serviceswhere user can view, down load and print the following: POEA announcements related to e-Contract’s use, notifications on the status of transactions made, accreditation data (principals, approved job order and processed contracts) and customized reports.

2.   Request for Processing of NHWs

2.1Log in to the System.The user must ensure that the correct username and password are keyed-in as the system will be locked in case of five wrong consecutive login attempts. The unlocking of user account shall be requested to the POEA ICT Branch

2.2 Select RFP Menu to display the e-Contracts page.There are five steps to complete the RFP process: Select Principal; Select Job Order; Select Position; Create Contract; and, Assessment and Payment of RFP

a. Select Principal, Job Order and Position.Select principal from the list to display its lob orders and approved positions and salaries. Only valid principal accreditation and approved job orders shall be displayed real-time by the system

b. Create Contract.The system will prompt the user to key-in the Registration number and name of the worker. The system will read from the e-Registration system and if found, will display the required RFP information: worker’s name, birthday, gender, civil status, passport number, address and dependents. The selected principal name, job order details, position and salaries will also be displayed and only the following fields shall be entered or selected from the list: Insurance provider, Insurance Duration Contract duration and PEOS. Once submitted, the system will display the Assessment of fees and Payment page. If not submitted, the RFP transaction will be nullified and cancelled.

The system disallows submission of new RFP for worker with valid OEC or contract duration with the requesting agency or another PRA. The worker shall be cleared after the requesting agency has submitted the reason for re-processing or the previous agency has issued clearance to the worker. This clearance shall be submitted to the Landbased Center for evaluation and updating of the worker's contract status.

RFPs for Evaluation.RFP of NHWs under the POEA watchlist or those who are under the category of semi-skilled female workers, household workers, drivers for Middle East and overseas performing artists will require evaluation. As such, this type of RFP will be redirected to “For Evaluation”, instead of displaying the Assessment and Payment page. After creating the contract, the agency will go to View Status of RFP Menu to print the RFP form that will be submitted to the Landbased Center, together with the documentary requirements for evaluation.

The evaluator, upon receipt of these documents, will log in to the Evaluator’s LBECS Account to view the evaluation details.

 • If the request is for approval, the evaluator will select “Approved” from the dropdown status. In return, the status of RFP that will be viewed by agency will be “For Payment”.

• If the request is for approval, the evaluator will select “Approved” from the dropdown status. In return, the status of RFP that will be viewed by agency will be “For Payment”.

•  If there are findings in the submitted RFP, the evaluator will select the status as “For Compliance” or “Denial” and will indicate the reason in the Remarks Portion. The said status and remarks will be viewed by the agency in the View the Status Menu of RFP.

All approved evaluation will trigger the status of “For Payment”. On click, it will display the assessed fees that will be paid by the agency. (Refer to Section 2.2.c)

c.  Assessment of Fees

The system shall display the following fees:

• POEA processing fee - Php 200.00
• OWWA Membership - US$25 (Peso equivalent amount)
• Pag-IBIG Contribution - Php 300.00
• LBP Transaction Fee

If the agency has question on the assessed fees, the agency can click the “Cancel Button” to cancel the RFP-submitted and verify first the fees with POEA ICT Branch, if concern is processing fee,  or  OWWA  and  Pag-IBIG  if  the  concern  is  for  worker’s OWWA membership fee or Pag-IBIG contributions, respectively.

d.  Payment of Fees. Click the “Pay Button” to pay the assessed fees. If Payment is successful, i.e., LBP has approved and confirmed the payment for the submitted RFP, the status of RFP will be changed to “Uploading of Contracts”, and after uploading of contracts to “For Printing of electronic OEC status. Please refer to Section 3a and 3b for the details.

e.  For Printing of Electronic OEC. Click this status to display the electronic OEC (please see the attached sample OEC). Download and save the OEC then print.

Note. The RFP status, particularly the “For Printing of OECs”, can be viewed by the workers in their e-Registration account.

3.  MyPOEA.This menu allows the agency to view, download and print the POEA announcements related to LBECS use, notifications on the status of transactions made, all accreditation data (principals, job order, approved positions and processed contracts) and generate customized reports.

Agencies can view the status of their RFPs, the list of their accredited principals, vessels, crew or job orders, processed contracts, and the list of their documented workers. Agency executives and users can also receive real-time notifications and generate frequently requested reports from the system. Aside from RFP status, agencies can also receive notifications on the status of agency license, such as renewal of license and inspection report

IV.  Technical and Operational Concerns

On concerns and problems encountered, the agencies and seafarers may contact the following POEA offices:

1.  ICT Branch at Telephone Numbers 7277778 and 7219496 for technical problems or concerns in using the LBECS and e-Registration Systems. The agencies will also receive a Help Desk link where they can submit feedbacks, queries and problems in using the systems.

2.   Landbased  Center  (for  PRAs)  at  Telephone  Number  7221187  for concerns on documentation procedures of workers, e.g., manual processing and payment in case the system is down.

3.   Agencies may also download the User's Manual on LBECS detailing the above cited procedures from their LBECS Dashboard.

V.   Effectivity Clause

This Memorandum Circular shall take effect on 01 May 2018. Agencies that failed to register in the new LBECS on or before this date will be reverted to regular counter processing until they were enrolled to the new system.

For compliance.