How this helpline is assisting Filipinas in crisis cnnphilippines.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnnphilippines.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Duterte pushes for OFW department bill gmanetwork.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gmanetwork.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
DUBAI: More than 2 million Filipinos living across the Arab world hope a planned government department focused on their welfare will provide a desperately needed backstop after the pandemic highlighted their vulnerability in times of economic hardship.
Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte, whose term ends next year, is promoting a bill to create the Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos (DOFIL) – one of his original key campaign promises.
It would replace the existing labyrinth of government agencies currently involved in overseas worker welfare.
If passed, the law creating DOFIL would merge all existing agencies handling migrant workers concerns and create a dedicated department to help overseas Filipino workers, often known by the abbreviation of “OFWs.”
Senator Joel Villanueva speaks during a Senate hearing on February 24, 2020. (Senate PRIB/Henzberg Austria)
On Tuesday, May 25, Villanueva, chairman of the Senate labor committee, sponsored to the plenary Senate Bill No. 2234, which seeks to establish a Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos (DMWOF) to respond the needs of over 10 million Filipinos around the world.
The bill consolidates all proposals on the creation of a department for OFWs, which they earlier called the Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFIL).
In his speech, Villanueva said the structure of the DMWOF should meet the needs for “navigating a world full of challenges to overseas Filipino workers, such as the post-pandemic world.”