Returning overseas Filipino workers. FILE PHOTO from DFA
MANILA, Philippines — The creation of the Department of Migrant Workers is an “excellent solution” to address the plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Tuesday.
He also said that working abroad should be a choice – and not a necessity – for Filipino families, and that one way to address this issue is to generate more jobs in the county.
“Maraming nagsasabi, ‘mga bagong bayani, malaki ang utang na loob natin sa kanila’, ngunit hindi natin sila tinutulungan. They have just passed the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers, I think that is an excellent solution,” he said during the 2022 Presidential One-On-One Interviews with Boy Abunda.
“’Pag nagkaka-problema ang ating OFWs, ang Embassy ang pinupuntahan. Ang Embassy wala namang budget ‘yan para kumuha ng abogado, iuwi ‘yung namatay… Now the Department of OFW will institutionalize that,” he added.
In December 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the measure establishing the Department of Migrant Workers which is dedicated to overseeing the affairs and protecting the rights of millions of OFWs.
The Department of Migrant Workers is established to regulate the recruitment, employment, and deployment of OFWs and launch investigations and file cases concerning illegal recruitment and human trafficking cases involving OFWs.
“The ideal is that nobody has to go, that we have enough jobs here in the Philippines. Hindi na kailangan magbyahe sa abroad – not by necessity anyway, that they have a choice to remain here in the Philippines,” the presidential aspirant said.
“The ideal is to bring them all home if they want to come home. But we are a long way from that,” he added.