New department to serve OFWs formed

President Duterte will sign into law on Tuesday the bill creating the Department of Migrant Affairs, according to TUCP party list Rep. Raymond Mendoza, principal author of the bill.

The new department, which will be headed by a secretary, will serve to protect the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), both land-based and sea-based.

The department will attend to OFWs regardless of their status and the means of entry into the country of destination, Mendoza said.

So-called “undocumented” or “irregular” OFWs will be looked after by the new Department of Migrant Workers while Filipinos in other countries will be looked after by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration will serve as the core agency of the new department.

But the Commission on Filipinos Overseas will not be absorbed by the new department.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Association will now be an attached agency of the proposed department. It is currently attached to the Department of Labor and Employment. —Dona Z. Pazzibugan