Senatorial candidate Camille Villar vowed to further ensure the protection of overseas Filipino workers, noting the sacrifices they have to endure to make lives better for their families here in the Philippines.
Villar said there is a need to integrate the roles of government agencies involved in looking into the welfare of the OFWs.
While Congress legislated the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers, she said the agency was still experiencing “birth pains” as it is tasked to handle cases of involving OFWs.
The government should also strive to teach OFW families to invest their hard-earned income, Villar said.
Villar noted that she and her family “have a long and deep relationship with OFWs,” recalling how her father, former Senate President Manny Villar, built his first housing unit for an OFW about 50 years ago.
This is the reason why the Villars conduct the annual gathering of OFWs and their families, dubbed as the OFW Family Summit.
“We have the OFW Family Summit that aims to help the families of OFWs here to form a livelihood or start their own business,” she said.
The OFW Summit also features seminars on government assistance to OFWs, discussions on how to start a livelihood, financial literacy and inspirational talks from successful OFWs who made it good in their own start-up businesses upon returning to the country.