President of the Automobile Labour Congress of Thailand, Mr. Manit Promkarikul, confirmed that for the “Section 33 We Love Each Other” project he pioneered, the government and Ministry of Labour have remedied over 9 million people. The remaining 1 million people are foreigners, whereas the other 1 million people are insured persons under Section 33 holding a government welfare card who has already received remedies from the “We Win” program. None of the groups were missed out as claimed. As for the case to use the pension fund first, it is currently doing a public hearing and will take it to the Cabinet for approval. It will then be subsequently brought to the House of Representatives following the Cabinet’s approval.
On May 9, 2021, President of the Automobile Labour Congress of Thailand, Mr. Manit Promkarikul, spoke about the case where Founder of the Workforce and Insured Persons in the Social Security System Group and the Group Asking for the Return of Pension Funds, Mr. Wason Prajit, said that the “Section 33 We Love Each Other” project has missed out 2 million people who did not receive the benefits. He also claimed for the pension fund to remedy insured persons first and that amendments to the law have not yet progressed. In this regard, for the 2 million people, the government and the Ministry of Labour have supported and remedied insured persons under Section 33 under the “Section 33 We Love Each Other” project, covering 9 million people. The remaining 1 million people are foreigners, whereas the other 1 million people are insured persons under Section 33 holding a government welfare card who has already received remedies from the “We Win” program. None of the groups were missed out as claimed. As for the case to use the pension fund first, it is currently doing a public hearing and will take it to the Cabinet for approval. It will then be subsequently brought to the House of Representatives following the Cabinet’s approval.
President of the Social Workers Group Mr. Chansilp Subnonwai, said that the “Mo 33 Rao Rak Kan (Section 33 We Love Each Other)” scheme did not miss the 2 million people. The actual number of insured persons is around 11 million people, whereby 9 million people received remedies. The 2 million people who do receive remedies were foreign workers and employees holding the state welfare card before becoming insured under Section 33, which was around 900,000 people. Such groups were entitled to remedies from other projects already, and therefore did not receive the remedies from this program. He said that he thinks that it is unlikely that 2 million people have been missed out. In using the pension fund, he said to proceed with it according to its timeline. It’s a process that he believes is the fastest to amend the law to benefit insured persons in the long term, which is an inheritance passed down to generations. In the short term, to receive loans from financial institutions, a meeting has yet to be called to present the progress. There is still a small number of people who are really in need to use money in advance.
The sources indicated that Mr. Wasan Prajit is an insured person under Section 33 and has received remedies under the “Section 33 We Love Each Other” program already.
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Division of Public Relations
9 May 2021
