House conducts first hearing for plan to create Department of OFWs

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. AP file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives on Tuesday conducted its first hearing on bills seeking to establish a new department in the government that would cater to overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

The House committees on government reorganization and overseas workers affairs started tackling the 31 bills that were filed in the chamber for the 18th Congress.

The hearing was conducted amid the House plenary deliberations on the proposed P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget.

“The primordial rationale of the Department of OFW is to protect and promote the rights of the Filipinos living and working overseas with the end view of securing their safety, health, freedom from abuses, development and the general well-being,” House government reorganization committee chair Batangas 5th District Rep. Mario Vittorio Mariño said.

“We owe [it] to the millions of our kabayans languishing and sacrificing their sweat and blood in foreign countries, away from the loving arms of their families. We have to do this, we should do this right,” TUCP Rep. Raymond Mendoza, House overseas workers affairs committee chair, meanwhile, said.

In the 17th Congress, there were nine bills in the chamber that proposed for the creation of the Department of OFWs, however, these measures only languished in the committee level.

In his 2019 State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated his plan to establish a department for OFWs.

READ: Highlights of Duterte’s 4th State of the Nation Address

Mariño said this prompted House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to order the House to “fast-track” the committee hearings on the said proposal.

“This is the only committee hearing allowed during the budget deliberations so we will do our best. We will make sure that this bill will be well-prepared when we go to the Senate,” the Batangas 5th District representative said.

Meanwhile, Cayetano, who also authored one of the bills, said that the House and the Senate held a consultative meeting on the proposal to create a joint technical working group to “thresh out” all the issues.

He also allayed concerns that if a Department of OFWs will be created, all other agencies concerning foreign travel or migration will be abolished.

He explained that the new department would allow OFWs to go to one agency for all their concerns instead of jumping from one department to another.

“This time around, number one: meron kang one person—lalaki o babae—he or she will be in the Cabinet. So meron maho-hold accountable ang Presidente na isang tao lang,” Cayetano said during the hearing.

“Secondly, there’s one department that you will go to, and although they will coordinate with the other agencies at least isa lang ang masisingil ninyo sa OFW Department,” he added.

Cayetano also issued an appeal to recruiters of OFWS to “clean their ranks” from abusive and dubious recruitment activities.

“Hindi magagawa ng gobyerno na ito kung ‘yung mga recruiters hindi rin makikiisa, at medyo linisin din natin ang sarili nating ranks. Sino ‘yung legitimate na tumutulong at kumikita ng konti at sino naman ‘yung medyo ginagatasan na ‘yung mga OFWs natin,” he said.

“We’re hoping that the Department of Overseas Filipinos and Foreign Employment will not be a ‘cure all,’ but will be a giant step in the right direction,” the House leader added. /jpv