Senatorial aspirant and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez on Thursday urged the Aquino administration to double its efforts in drawing up contingency plans in providing alternative livelihood and repatriation to overseas Filipino workers as an act of “malasakit” (compassion) to them following potential employment crisis as an offshoot of the significant fall of oil prices in the world.
Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association, stressed contingency measures should be placed immediately especially in absorbing OFWs who may decide to return to the Philippines for good.
“Action is different from a praise release,” Romualdez, head of the House Independent Bloc and a three-term congressman who is running for the Senate under a platform anchored on compassionate governance, pointed out. “Our government should better anticipate the looming problem of displacement with dispatch. All forms of assistance to them should be readied and extended as soon as possible [ASAP],” Romualdez added.
Romualdez stressed the need for the government to provide the OFWs affected the immediate sustainable livelihood and better job opportunities even as he warned that the the plunging crude oil prices can create serious trouble to the jobs of many OFWs.
Romualdez had earlier took the lead in calling on the government to plan in providing alternative livelihood for the estimated 2.2-million OFWs working in the volatile Middle East.
Romualdez also asked the government to look for available funding sources and adopt the template it used in war-torn countries in case of repatriation.
He said the government through the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of Labor and Employment should be able to plan ahead for the safety and alternative livelihood of OFWs should the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia and nearby countries over the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric escalate.
Citing the successful repatriation of OFWs in Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Iraq, Romualdez said the “government can use the template from these countries in ensuring the safety of Filipinos.”
“We need to plan ahead and effect the swift and free mass repatriation of OFWs in Saudi Arabia and Iran. We don’t want to be sound alarmist, but we should work on ensuring their safety,” Romualdez said. “The government has a template for repatriation that it used in war-torn countries before. The DoLE should also map out plans on possible alternative sources of income for OFWs who might be affected,” he added.