MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte is proposing the appointment of an interim overseer to take charge of the repatriation efforts and provision of livelihood opportunities in the country for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Villafuerte made his appeal to Malacañang on Friday, just as the House of Representatives is set to conduct its inquiry on issues related to the repatriation of OFWs during the health crisis.
“I appeal to Malacañang to appoint an interim take-charge guy to handle the repatriation of, and provision of local jobs and livelihood opportunities for, our OFWs who have been forced to return home because of the economic fallout from the global health emergency—in the same way, that President Duterte named Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu as the go-to guy in the government’s anti-COVID efforts in Cebu and, before that, in the six-month rehabilitation program for Boracay Island,” Villafuerte said in a statement.
“The apparently bungled repatriation of OFWs, many of whom remain stranded either in their host-countries or in quarantine facilities or other public places in the country while awaiting their delayed return to their home provinces, point to the urgency for the Palace to appoint somebody whose sole job, pending the creation of the proposed DFO (Department of Filipinos Overseas), is to take good care of our OFWs,” the House leader added.
Villafuerte said that “most graphic portrait of the reality that concerned agencies have botched the repatriation of OFWs” are reports of migrant workers left to sleep in airports and under flyovers while waiting for authorities to take them to quarantine facilities or repatriate them to their respective provinces.
“We have appropriately called our OFWs mga Bagong Bayani whose contribution to the economy by way of their ever-increasing remittances have, prior to the pandemic, helped drive over a decade of uninterrupted growth leading to the Philippines’ newfound status as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies,” Villafuerte said.
“The least that the government could do for these modern-day Filipino heroes is to appoint an overseer who would ensure the speedy and hassle-free repatriation of OFWs and craft a menu of livelihood opportunities for these returning workers who have, whether temporarily or permanently, lost their jobs abroad because of the pandemic,” he added.
Villafuerte likewise called on the Senate to pass the measure creating a department specifically for OFWs once Congress reopens in July.
Villafuerte, one of the lead authors of the House version of the measure, said that the DFO would “take full charge of advancing the interests of OFWs in the long haul and providing immediate relief to distressed migrant workers at this critical time when the COVID-19-induced global slump has put them out of work.”
The House of Representatives approved the bill creating the DFO on its last session day before its Lenten break back in March.
Under the bill, the DFO is tasked to “protect the rights and promote the welfare of Filipinos overseas; to formulate, plan, coordinate, promote, administer, implement policies, and undertake systematic national development programs for managing and monitoring the overseas or foreign employment of Filipino workers.”
Specifically, among the tasks of the department is the regulation of OFW deployment and the promulgation of regulations on the deployment of sea-based and land-based Filipino workers abroad.
It is also tasked to help OFWs who fall victim to illegal recruitment and human trafficking as well as provide social and welfare services to OFWs such as insurance and social work assistance, among others.