Labor Sec bares programs for OFWs

BAGUIO CITY –Programs for welfare and protection of Overseas Filipino Workers is a priority of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, labor and

Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III said here during  Overseas Workers Welfare Administration- sponsored free film showing at SM City Baguio of “Sunday Beauty Queen”, an OFW-inspired story that won Best Picture in the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival.

Bello reported that OFWs have the full support of the President that he personally directed him to look into the plight of Filipino migrant workers on how the government can further help them at their job sites and when they return to the country.

The Secretary disclosed that they have already scrapped the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) requirement for vacationing OFWs to streamline the process and reduce the fees that they pay.

One – Stop Service Center for OFWs are also being established in various parts of the country, like what have been recently inaugurated at the Baguio Convention Center, he added.

For other government plans, Bello bared that the |President already directed the establishment of an OFW bank that will cater to the needs of Filipino migrant workers and the crafting of memorandum of agreement with leaders of OFW host countries that will assure better work and living condition of OFWs.

Meanwhile, OWWA Deputy Administrator Josefino Torres said the movie Sunday Beauty Queen portrayed actual sacrifices, challenges and achievements of OFWs. It is a Cinderella tale of Filipina house helper who dreamed to be a beauty queen in Hongkong, setting aside all the work challenges and the social cause of migration even for a single night of glory.

There are many lessons that OFWs or those planning to work abroad can learn from the movie that could help them in making the right decisions. The free film showing was attended mostly by OFW families. -- Carlito Dar