Go urges colleagues to act quickly on bill creating Department of Overseas Filipinos

Sen.Christopher Go (Photo from his office)

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go urged his colleagues in the Senate on Monday to act quickly on a bill that will create a Department of Overseas Filipinos.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday, Go made the appeal during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development.

“There are many concerns now that we have to tackle and this should not take a back seat,” Go said, speaking partly in Filipino.

“While we are financially constrained, this should not stop us from doing our job and looking for better ways to improve our government,” he added. “Let’s continue the discussion and let us see how we can improve further this proposed measure.”

During the regular session of the Senate in the afternoon of the same day, Go again emphasized that urgency of discussing the measure, Senate Bill No. 1835, which he pointed out was among the priority measures of the Duterte administration.

Go filed the bill last Sept. 16, “the second iteration” of Senate Bill No. 202 that he filed last year.

“The budget appropriated to agencies will be utilized for this new department and will no longer incur additional burden to our financial struggles — rather it will unburden our bureaucracy and streamline functions, so we can respond better and properly maximize the resources we need,” Go said during the session.

He pointed out that many overseas Filipinos, who make up about 10 percent of the population, had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The goal of this proposed law is simple. We want to have a government agency that will serve as a guide for all the concerns of our countrymen in other countries. This is for the good of more than 10 million Filipinos who are trying out their luck in various other parts of the world,” he said.

Various government agencies, he said, have been having difficulties addressing the needs of those Filipinos due to the lack of a “holistic mechanism.”

“Frequently,  they don‘t know where to go. They get passed around. I hope our government won’t act this way. Let’s repay their sacrifices with orderly and reliable service,” Go said.

He added that overseas workers had often been hailed as “the new heroes” — “mga bagong bayani.” And yet, he said, those who have problems would often have to turn to Facebook or public affairs radio programs to ask for help and call the attention of the government.

Go assured his colleagues that the proposal for a Department of Overseas Filipinos was backed by a series of consultations with various stakeholders by the executive department, led by Cabinet Secretary Karlo B. Nograles.

“This will not add to our bureaucracy. Rather, this is a measure to streamline government services and improve bureaucratic responsiveness,” Go said. “Instead of having separate agencies serving overseas Filipinos, wouldn’t it be better to have them all under one roof, acting as one team under a single mandate?”

He also reminded the Senate that President Rodrigo Duterte had shown his “steadfast position” on the matter in the last two of his State of the Nation Addresses and various other public pronouncements, as the creation of the department was among his campaign promises.

[atm]