The Department of Foreign Affairs has partnered with the United Nations in implementing a program aimed at addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant Filipino workers, an official said Wednesday.
In his speech during the virtual launch of the Bridging Recruitment to Reintegration in Migration Governance or BRIDGE, UN Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said BRIDGE was intended to equip and strengthen the approach by government and civil society “towards effective reintegration frameworks and services that are tailored to the COVID-19 context, mindful of its particular impacts on women and men migrants.”
Gonzales, noting the impact of the pandemic on migrant workers, said largescale job losses had led to the mass return of Filipino migrant workers to the Philippines.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that as of Dec. 11, more than 300,000 Filipinos abroad had been repatriated since the pandemic started.
Gonzales says the BRIDGE program will support the government in promoting fair and ethical recruitment, and in ensuring that returning migrant workers are able to successfully reintegrate through an approach that puts migrants at the center, addresses challenges to women, in particular, mobilizes all government actors and is inclusive of all stakeholders.
“It will also reinforce the government’s programs to ensure that evidence and good practice pertaining to all aspects of migration is at the heart of migration policy,” Gonzales said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. vowed to support the program because migration governance “remains a work in progress” in the Philippines.
“I’m honored to join you in the launching of the BRIDGE program to celebrate once again a strong partnership in bringing forward decency in the migration process and not just for our 10 million overseas Filipino but all migrants from anywhere, going to everywhere else,” Locsin said in his message.