OFWs from Libya want new overseas jobs or wait for crisis to pass – DOLE chief

MANILA, Philippines—Most of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who returned to the country from strife-torn Libya have asked for job referrals from the government, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz revealed on Tuesday.

Most of the OFWs were seeking assistance to be deployed to other countries, Baldoz said.

On the other hand, there were at least 28 returning OFWs who sought for livelihood assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment.

Thirty-seven returning OFWs asked for transportation fares to be able to return to their provinces, three sought legal assistance, and two requested scholarship grants for their dependents.

“There are many others, however, who were repatriated, are just waiting for the crisis to subside because they really want to go back to Libya and their employers also want them back,” noted Baldoz.

Meanwhile, two batches of OFWs from Libya arrived Monday in two separate flights.

Baldoz instructed OWWA  to extend assistance to the repatriates. Returnees were offered temporary shelter at the OWWA Halfway Home and were  briefed on the government’s Reintegration Program for OFWs, specifically the “Balik-Pinay, Balik-Hanapbuhay” program.

Under the “Balik-Pinay, Balik-Hanapbuhay” program, the DOLE conducts skills assessment, business counseling and entrepreneurship development training to interested returning OFWs, after which, they are granted the ‘starter kits’ as a source of self-employment.

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