Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte has proposed twin measures for the long-term benefit of the country’s 10 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), quite a number of whom remain stranded in Metro Manila or in their host-countries because of the failure of the concerned agencies to repatriate them at once in the midst of the coronavirus-induced health and economic crisis that has swept across the globe.
Villafuerte, a lead author of the House-approved consolidated bill creating the Department of Filipinos Overseas and Foreign Employment (DFO), has called on “the Senate to pass as soon as the Congress reopens in July its own version of the DFO that would take full charge of advancing the interests of OFWs in the long haul and providing immediate relief to distressed migrant workers at this critical time when the COVID-19-induced global slump has put them out of work.”
“The least that the government could do for these modern-day Filipino heroes is to appoint an overseer.”
And in the absence of the DFO to take care of distressed OFWs, Villafuerte appealed to Malacañang to appoint an interim overseer to take charge of the repatriation efforts and provision of livelihood opportunities in the country for migrant Filipinos who have lost their overseas jobs temporarily or for good as a result of the unprecedented pandemic.
“I appeal to Malacañang to appoint an interim take-charge guy to handle the repatriation of, and provision of local jobs and livelihood opportunities for, our OFWs who have been forced to return home because of the economic fallout from the global health emergency—in the same way that President Duterte named Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu as go-to guy in the government’s anti-COVID efforts in Cebu and, before that, in the six-month rehabilitation program for Boracay Island,” Villafuerte said.
“The apparently bungled repatriation of OFWs, many of whom remain stranded either in their host-countries or in quarantine facilities or other public places in the country while awaiting their delayed return to their home provinces, point to the urgency for the Palace to appoint somebody whose sole job, pending the creation of the proposed DFO, is to take good care of our OFWs,” he added.
“The most graphic portrait of the reality that concerned agencies have botched the repatriation of OFWs who have been forced by the pandemic to return home are the daily photos in the newspapers of migrant Filipinos forced to sleep or stay outside the airports or under flyovers while waiting for the proper authorities to take them to quarantine facilities or send them home,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte issued this statement as the House committee on accounts, upon the directive of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, opened this week its inquiry into the government’s migrant policy response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“We have appropriately called our OFWs mga Bagong Bayani whose contribution to the economy by way of their ever-increasing remittances have, prior to the pandemic, helped drive over a decade of uninterrupted growth leading to the Philippines’ newfound status as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies,” he said.
Villafuerte said: “The least that the government could do for these modern-day Filipino heroes is to appoint an overseer who would ensure the speedy and hassle-free repatriation of OFWs and craft a menu of livelihood opportunities for these returning workers who have, whether temporarily or permanently, lose their jobs abroad because of the pandemic.”
He said the appointment of this interim take-charge guy for OFWs and the swift Senate approval of its version of the DFO would support President Duterte’s commitment to protect these migrant workers.
Villafuerte recalled that the President called on the 18th Congress in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) to pass new legislation creating the DFO, and has issued an executive order putting up the overseas Filipino bank (OFB) to promote these workers’ financial inclusion.
Following the House’s approval of the DFO bill before the Lenten recess of the Congress, Villafuerte cited the close cooperation of the House leadership with migrant workers’ groups and other stakeholders involved in the training and overseas placement of OFWs for the chamber’s timely approval of the President’s priority measure on the creation of the DFO.
Villafuerte said the House’s approval of this consolidated measure on third and final reading was in line with the commitment of President Duterte and Speaker Cayetano on the establishment of a Cabinet-level Office to protect and advance the interests of the country’s over 10 million modern-day heroes.
“We owe it to our over 10 million modern-day Filipino heroes, who have helped keep our economy afloat amid all external and domestic challenges, to have a line Department in-charge of protecting and advancing their interests, in keeping with the commitment to them of President Duterte and Speaker Cayetano,” Villafuerte said.
On top of revving up the delivery of sector-specific services for migrant Filipinos and assisting distressed migrant workers amid the pandemic, Villafuerte said the proposed Department would have to undertake proactive measures to finally address the problems buffeting them, particularly illegal recruitment, sexual abuse by employers and inadequate work benefits, among others.
OFW remittances have propped up the economy and kept it afloat in the face of past international financial crises.
OFW remittances have propped up the economy and kept it afloat in the face of past international financial crises, remitting $3.22 billion in December 2019 alone, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Full-year remittances totaled $33.47 billion in 2019.
Prior to the DFO bill’s House approval, Villafuerte had committed to OFW groups the speedy congressional approval of this Department, as earlier vowed by Speaker Cayetano.
Villafuerte met last year at the House with leaders of the Alliance of Bonafide Recruiters for OFW’s Advancement and Development (ABROAD), which earlier submitted a position paper to Malacañang and the Congress identifying points of agreements and discussions on fine-tuning this priority bill of the Duterte Administration.
He told leaders of the ABROAD group in a 2019 meeting that the surge in OFW remittances was responsible in part for the increasing resilience of the Philippine economy in the face of international financial headwinds such as international protectionism, the US-China trade war and the global economic slowdown.
“I have been with President Duterte in many of his official trips abroad at nakita ko na malapit talaga ang puso niya sa mga OFWs. He has heard many stories about the hardships of our countrymen while working abroad and I understand why he wants the Congress to speed up the passage of a measure creating an OFW department,” Villafuerte said.
ABROAD officials said after the meeting that they “were really thankful to our legislators for listening to us. Aside from lobbying support from our lawmakers, our main goal is to establish partnership with the government in making sure that our expatriate professionals and skilled migrants’ rights are being secured and their concerns are being attended immediately.”
ABROAD is a coalition composed of these nine (9) recruitment agency associations: the Australia & New Zealand Association of Employment Providers of the Philippines, Inc. (ANZAEPP), Association of Philippine Licensed Agencies for Technical Internship Program (APLATIP), Association of Professional Philippine Manpower Agencies for China Inc. (APPMAC), Japan Employment Providers of the Philippines & Consultants’ Association, Inc. (JEPPCA), Overseas Placement Agencies of the Philippines (OPAP), Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI), Pilipino Licensed Manpower Agencies for Taiwan (PILMAT), Philippine Recruitment Agencies Association for Saudi Arabia (PRAASA) and the Philippine Association of Agencies Accredited to Oman (PAAAO).