MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has certified as urgent the passage of a law creating a new department for overseas Filipinos.
In a letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III dated Dec. 15, Duterte certified as urgent the passage of Senate Bill No. 1949 which seeks to create a Department of Overseas Filipinos.
The bill, filed by Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, is a “result of a series of consultations and meetings among the Executive agencies, specifically those which will be primarily affected by the restructuring that will be occasioned by this measure, held after the filing of the first two versions.”
“It represents the unified position of the entire Executive branch of the government on this measure, one that they believe will enable the proposed Department to address the most crucial problems, deliver the most important services, and ultimately achieve its goals,” the bill’s explanatory bill read.
The measure and similar bills are still pending at the committee level in the Senate.
Under the bill, the new department will be the executive branch’s primary agency “tasked to protect the rights and promote the welfare of overseas Filipinos; formulate, plan, coordinate, promote, administer, and implement policies, and undertake systematic national development programs for managing and monitoring the overseas or foreign employment of Filipino workers while taking into consideration domestic manpower and human resource requirements and the need to protect the right to decent work and fair and ethical recruitment practices.”