OFW Department by December is best gift to overseas workers —TUCP

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Thursday expressed hope that the proposed establishment of a department for overseas Filipino workers would push through by December.

"There is much work to be done and we hope to meet the December target this year. We hope that this will truly be a Christmas gift of Congress and of President Duterte to our 10.4 million migrant Filipinos and overseas workers," TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said in a statement.

Mendoza, who also chairs the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, said that 32 bills have been filed at the lower chamber of the Congress and that a technical working group is currently ironing out key provisions for its establishment.

President Rodrigo Duterte, during his fourth State of the Nation Address, said that the creation of a department for OFWs would help ensure that their basic human and labor rights are respected.

Recently, a Filipina worker died in Abu Dhabi. Her children demand justice because they are not convinced that she jumped from the 13th floor of the building where she worked for a Moroccan employer.

There are 7,000 OFWs leaving the country everyday, according to TUCP.

It underscored that establishing a department that would cater to the needs of Filipino workers abroad would also entail the need for budgetary support.

Mendoza pointed out the need for additional manpower and logistics.

He said that only five personnel of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) are in charge of approving 7,000 contracts daily and only five labor inspectors were tasked with monitoring 1,300 local recruitment agencies nationwide.

Mendoza is optimistic that "seamless administrative systems and processes" would be facilitated by the proposed Department of OFWs.

Moreover, he said that reintegration of overseas workers to the country is also a key component of the proposed creation of department—transcending issues of recruitment, deployment, and repatriation.

The Department of Labor and Employment already drafted its version of the measure seeking to create such a government agency. —LDF, GMA News