Ople: DMW ready by January

Susan Ople RICHARD A. REYES/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Incoming Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) chief Susan Ople said on Thursday that she planned to have the newly created agency fully operational by January next year.

In the meantime, she said President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked her to work with incoming labor secretary Bienvenido Laguesma to “make sure that there will be no disruption in services to our [overseas Filipino workers] and in fact look at enhancement of services and programs.”

“We are looking at January of 2023,” Ople said during an interview with CNN Philippines when asked about her target date for the full operation of the DMW.

The DMW was created in December 2021, but it had no budget in the 2022 budget, so it can only be officially constituted when it gets its budget in 2023. —JOHN ERIC MENDOZA