SIX AGENCIES under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Office of the President (OP) are likely to be “regrouped” under a new department for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that President Duterte has vowed to operationalize by December.
A department for OFWs? It’s about time, really. And this would be a dream coming true for our OFWs.
Establishing a new department that will
rigorously regulate the recruitment of Filipinos for jobs abroad so as to curb
rampant abuse is most welcome. We are counting on the new department to carry
out government policies, strategies and programs to protect and advance the
rights and welfare of the growing number of Filipinos toiling outside the
country.
The new department should entail minimal extra funding since it would merely
provide new leadership to, absorb and reposition existing offices as well as
their budgets.
Based on previous discussions between
Malacañang and Congress, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) – both currently
attached to the DOLE – would be moved to the new department. All of the
Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) now under the DOLE would also be
assigned to the new department, too, along with the Commission on Filipinos
Overseas (CFO) now under the Office of the President. Two offices currently
under the DFA – the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs and the Office of the
Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers Affairs – would also be handed over to the
new department.
Several bills seeking to establish the Department of Migration and Development
(DMD) or Department for OFWs have been reintroduced in the new Congress. But
the President enjoys the prerogative to establish the new department via an
executive order.
The new department could also harness for nation-building migrant Filipinos who are coming home with skills and expertise acquired overseas. Its creation would allow the DOLE to focus on tackling equally pressing domestic issues, such as jobs creation, skills retooling, and putting in check widespread violations of general labor standards, including contractualization. Also, it would free up the DFA to concentrate on developing diplomatic relations with foreign governments.
OFWs are our modern heroes. They literally sacrifice themselves for their families to have better lives and for our country to stay afloat economically through their dollar remittances that reach billions each year. We must take good care of them.
