House adopts Senate bill establishing OFW dept.

MANILA – The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the Senate version of a bill establishing the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), which would address all issues and concerns of Filipino workers abroad under a centralized agency.

After the Senate version is adopted, the two chambers will no longer convene a bicameral conference committee and the bill will be sent to Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.

The bill, which Malacañang declared urgent in May, seeks to integrate the agencies that attend to the needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) into a single coherent office.

The proposed department will coordinate all efforts and policies for the protection of OFWs, according to the bill.

The functions and mandate of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will be absorbed by the proposed department.

With POEA as the backbone, seven offices are consolidated and merged to become 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 a subsidiary of the new department.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda emphasized a provision in the bill that would establish Migrant Workers Offices in the country’s embassies.

“We currently manage OFW concerns in a very ad hoc manner among our embassies. With the institutionalization of an office and a system for helping our OFWs in the countries where they work, OFWs can rest better assured that they are not alone in these countries,” Salceda said.

A key feature of this potential law is the institutionalization of a full cycle reintegration program, he said.

“Reintegration should include a skills transfer, and in the tech-voc centered education system that I envision for the country, highly-skilled OFWs will make excellent teachers. Part of reintegration must be to make returning OFWs feel that they are not dependents of the state, but are highly important contributors to national development, even when they come home,” he said.

Christmas gift to OFWs

According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Party-list, the House’s decision to adopt the Senate version is a Christmas present for OFWs and seafarers, their families, and the entire Filipino nation.

“We are awaiting its signing into law by President Rodrigo Duterte,” TUCP said in a statement.

“We thank all those who struggled and fought with us for three years – land-based OFW workers groups, sea-based workers group, including Associated Philippine Seafarers Union (APSU), and Associated Marine Officers and Seamen’s Unions of the Philippines (AMOSUP), the non-government organizations led by the Ople Center, and the Joint Manning Group (JMG). Mabuhay ang ating mga OFWs ang mga Bagong Bayani,” it added.

TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza said the establishment of the DMW would expedite the various government assistance and supports for OFWs and their families.