The Senate stamped its approval on the bill creating the Department of Migrant Workers, in a major advance for legislation the administration has pushed as an urgent measure.
Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate labor committee, hailed the passage on 3rd and final reading of Senate Bill No. 2234, which organizes the proposed Department of Migrant Workers after the Upper Chamber voted 20-0 recently.
In his brief remarks after the plenary vote, Villanueva said the proposed department seeks to be a “dedicated service arm” for 10 million Filipinos overseas who account for 10 percent of the population and whose remittances comprise 12 percent of national income.
“This bill is a chance to change for the better the way our OFWs, our modern-day heroes, are recruited, repatriated, and reintegrated.”
“This moment is for every Filipino abroad who has sacrificed so much for their family and our beloved country. This bill is a chance to change for the better the way our OFWs, our modern-day heroes, are recruited, repatriated, and reintegrated,” said principal sponsor and author of Senate Bill No. 2234.
“Kaya’t isang malaking pagtanaw ng utang na loob, at isang makabuluhang pamasko para mga OFWs ang pagpasa ngayong araw dito sa Senado ng Department of Migrant Workers Bill,” the veteran legislator continued.
The department will orchestrate all efforts and policies, which unfortunately have become fragmented, to protect OFWs. With POEA as the backbone, a total of seven (7) offices are consolidated and merged as the Department of Migrant Workers (DFA-OUMWA, POEA, POLO, ILAB, NRCO, and NMP under DOLE, and the Office of the Social Welfare Attache of DSWD). The OWWA will be an attached agency of the new department.
Allaying fears that the transfer of agencies to a new department amounts to a mere “lipat-bahay,” the senator said the role of each, based on its strengths, is well clarified.
“Hindi po basta ‘lipat-bahay’ o ‘pagpapalit ng karatula ng pangalan’ ang itinatayo nating kagawaran kundi isang ‘bagong bahay’ na may maayos na plano at base sa pangarap at adhikain ng mga mismong may-ari ng bahay na ito, wala pong iba kundi ang ating mga Overseas Filipino Workers,” he stressed.
Villanueva expressed gratitude to the different government agencies who serve as front liners to OFW concerns and helped shape the bill to its current form.
While recognizing the “the many and different paths that were taken” during the entirety of the deliberations into the measure, these efforts “will now converge as we establish the Department of Migrant Workers, an agency that is laser-focused on OFWs needs and welfare,” he explained.
Villanueva also maintained that the department would help ensure the state policy of not promoting overseas employment.
“Balang-araw — at hindi po tayo mawawalan ng pag-asa — na darating ang panahong hindi na kailangang mag-abroad ng Pilipino at mawalay sa kanyang pamilya para lang mabuhay.”
“Naniniwala po tayo na balang-araw — at hindi po tayo mawawalan ng pag-asa — na darating ang panahong hindi na kailangang mag-abroad ng Pilipino at mawalay sa kanyang pamilya para lang mabuhay,” he said.
“We are in unison that it is not the policy of the state to promote overseas employment and it is our common aspiration that Filipinos will migrate or work abroad only out of choice, and not out of necessity,” Villanueva concluded.
