Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has filed a measure seeking to establish a Department of Foreign Employment, a one-stop umbrella agency that will provide full protection to overseas Filipino workers and their families.
Under Senate Bill No. 1435, the proposed agency will serve as a channel to address all issues and grievances of OFWs, dubbed as the country’s modern-day heroes, including the promotion of their full and just employment and the mitigation of social costs back home.
The senator’s initiative came weeks after President Rodrigo Duterte announced during his state visit in Saudi Arabia that a Department for OFWs is now in the works.
Cayetano said each year, around two-million Filipinos are driven to leave the country due to poverty and joblessness at home.
Most of these migrant workers, he said, are forced to endure oppressive work conditions at the hands of abusive employers or illegal recruiters.
“Despite the existence of agencies to protect them, OFWs and their families continue to face numerous problems and challenges such as illegal recruitment; employer abuse; inadequate benefits; inefficient and ineffective delivery of services; and the lack of representation in the agencies that are supposed to protect and promote their rights,” he said.
“Hence, there is a pressing need to prioritize the creation of an agency that would manage, harmonize, and strengthen existing policies and programs to address the needs of foreign Filipino employment,” Cayetano added.
The proposed department shall be the primary policy, programming, coordinating, and administrative entity of the executive branch in providing assistance to OFWs.
The measure also proposed to create a P1-billion OFW Distress and Assistance Fund to provide financial support for OFWs in distress – including repatriation and provisions for life-saving funds in times of great emergency – a well as training and livelihood loans for returning OFWs.
